Characters

Good Monday Morning,







Today I want to chat about "Characters" and by chatting about characters....I mean let's talk about some of our favorite characters and not only why they are our favorite characters but why you can relate to them. How they can bring out or spark emotions in you, bring back a memory for you or at the very least make you care for them.


Of coure for me there is Renie and Judith from Mary Daheim' s Bed-n-breakfast series. The two women are cousins but they seem more like sisters to me. I like how ordinary and not so ordinary their lives are and intertwine with one another. Renie is me on a bad day I relate to the stains on the shirts and forgetting to comb your hair especially if I am on a deadline to finish a book.


Judith is me when albeit she is more of a klutz than I am but she has her moments with her mother (who will never get mother of the year) and since I have a mother like this and will likely one day be accused of being Judith's mother then yeah I can relate. There is Aunt Deb who is Renie's mother well my Aunt Joanne I'm convinced is this woman's twin. Now when Judith is mad she cooks and cleans something when I get mad I cross stitch or do the laundry (my dryr is broke) so guess what I do regularly right now?


Anyway as you can see these two women mean something to me. I love humor and use it to get past awkward points in my life and friendships much the same as Renie and Judith. Life is not always fun for me or even amusing but it can be funny and at times.


Moving on let's go retro for a few minutes. I love Amanda Matesky's books that are based on a woman from the 1950's who is a receptionist for a magazine publisher and they publish detective stories. This woman is in her time but thinks way ahead of her time. I love her and she has a name that is unforgettable. Her character is also unforgettable "Paige Turner" is her name. Her neighbor across the hall is an artist and she truly has her share of men and stories to tell. Paige wants to be a real author and longs to be the one with her name on at least one detective story her magazine publishes. Plus Paige is probably more me than I like to admit back in the day when I was her age and even today with longing to be published and wishing I could grow sunflowers instead of having an insatible need to write, feel express and solve the mystery. Of course like Paige I have visions of glory and fame......I mean what writer doesn't...which leads me to one of my all time favorite characters.


Laura Levine's character in her mystery chick lit series filled with wit and humor and a cat named Prozac to whom belongs to Jaine Austen and if you are a mystery reader and have yet read Killer Cruise you're doing yourself a diservice but I digress. Jaine's character comes complete with all too human feelings of angst, humor, trouble, creative ways to make and earn a living, parents who drive you bonkers and you don't to be twenty something for this character to touch your life. I am in my early fifties and love every book Laura Levine has penned in this series. If you want to be tormented by a character then by all means give Prozac a pair of pantyhose and stand back, if you want humor just read one of Jaine's toliet bowl adds or meet some of her other clients, if you think nobody loves you and could easily forget your name just ask Jaine's mom what Prozac's name is? She'll tell you it's Zoloft every time and if you think you have problems well just read one of Laura's books in this series which begs the question for Laura "Did you have as many bad days as your character?" And what is the name of your cat? Just curious I'm just asking....


Anyway today tell us about how you can relate to your favorite characters....


Hugs,


Pamela