Literary Obsessions; an embarrassing list

A lot has been made out of this Edward Cullen character, the main love interest in the Twilight series. And really? I'm not that jazzed by him. Oh, he desperately wants to drink Bella's blood and totally fuck her brains out at the same time, but meh.

This is not to say I haven't completely fallen in love with a literary character before. It isn't even to say that I didn't have the nerdiest and most embarrassing loves. And most of these aren't run of the mill, either. I never fell in love with Holden Caulfield or Harry Potter.

For one thing, a few of these also have movies, so they've melded into a hybrid of what happened in the books and what happened in the movie. Bear with me. This list is also in no particular order.

1. Jason Bourne of The Bourne Identity



I read the book before I saw the movie, mostly because the movie looked damn intriguing. What results: a vulnerable hero. A hero who can't remember essential facts like his own name or what the hell he was in his past life, but still knows how to make coffee and kick ass.

Haunted by his own dreams. Et cetera. It really got to me.

2. Homer Wells of The Cider House Rules



I know I saw the movie way before I read the books. But still, the two stories have fused in my mind. In the movie, Homer Wells is an orphan, cast out by his mother and then second best out of two to the women he loves.

Totally sucks to be him. Still, his devotion was appealing. And if it were me, Homer Wells, you would not have been second best.

3. Sandy and Dennys Murray of Many Waters



For a long time, the only thing I knew about Sandy and Dennys (twins) was that they had a vegetable garden in A Wrinkle In Time. Ordinary twin brothers to the extraordinary Meg and Charles Wallace. In this instance, ordinary totally meant boring.

So what a surprise when I ventured into the bookstore to see that Sandy and Dennys had their own adventure. I read it five years after I had first encountered them. Set in biblical times (Noah's Flood...you know when you accidentally time travel), the twins fall in love with the same woman. She's youngest daughter of Noah, not included in the bible...not saved from the flood by any account. After all, it was Noah and his sons on the boat, with their wives. No one ever said anything about a daughter.

Did my heart break a little? Yes. Did I love them? Yes. Was I able to tell them apart? Well, I mean, they are twins. That part wasn't my fault. After all, I still can't remember a fact that distinguishes the two characteristically. The were both noble and courageous and all the things that heroes are supposed to be. Occasionally they were in separate places. That's why its listed as both of them, because who could ever tell them apart?

And that's it. I have read so many books over my lifetime, but these are the only three characters that I ever felt anything for...in the way those teenage girls feel for Edward Cullen. Only not nearly as much, because this is the first time I'm writing about it. And even this is embarrassing.