Characters I'd want for my friends

I've done a slight modification of this week's theme,Top Ten Books About Friendship, brought to you by the Broke and the Bookish and their Top Ten Tuesday.

Not long ago I listed my top ten girl friendship books, and if I expanded it out to include all friendships it would also have Frodo and Sam in the Lord of the Rings, the guys in The Outsiders, Laurence and Temeraire in His Majesty's Dragon (hey, dragons count!) and Sylvi and Ebon in Pegasus (pegasus count too!).

But my list changes in very interesting ways when I change the criteria to characters I'd want as MY friend.

For instance, I love the friendship of Karou and Zuzana in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. But both girls would intimidate me in real life. I'd love to hang out with them in the Poison cafe and talk art and mythical creatures, but when it gets down to the knives and the teeth... eh... I'll pass.  Same with another one of my all time favorite fictional girls: Harry Crewe, from the Blue Sword. I love her to death, but when I think about having her over for tea? Or watching Star Trek re-runs or BBC period dramas with her into the small hours of the night? I'm just not feeling it with her.  It'd be sort of like making small talk with Helen Keller or Mother Theresa or Margaret Thatcher: it might be lovely small talk, but with someone like that, it really ought to be big, important talk, you know?

A note about ladies in love stories. They are not good friend material: too wrapped up in their guys. I love a love story, but in real life, it's no fun when all your friend can do is sigh with starry eyes or bawl with tear filled ones.  Lilac from These Broken Stars is a neat girl, but she's going to be a bit to wrapped up with Tarver for a while to qualify as being a decent friend to anyone else.

But the characters on my list today: I feel like I could really talk with them: about big things and little things too; and they wouldn't just talk about their boyfriends. I could have them over for tea and enchiladas and not be totally freaked out if they notice that my dining table is a little scuffed up or if they hear my kids burp. I wouldn't be embarrassed to ask them all the little quirky things that we love to know and share with our friends, like favorite recipes, favorite lines from movies, and guilty pleasure books.

10. Elisa from Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson
Elisa is so insecure in the first book of this series. I just wanted to nibble pastries with her and commiserate about life.

9. Bod from the Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman.
Actually, I'd like to be friends with just about anyone in this book. Even Silas. And I normally don't like hanging out in graveyards: but the characters in this book! Oh! They are so lovable (except for the bad guys and the ghouls, of course).

8. Leslie from Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Oh my gosh, I love friends who make up fantasy worlds and take me to visit them!

7. Anne from Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
Actually, Anne is a little intimidating to me, because she's just so full of energy and imagination and verve; but I think I could get over my shyness with her with a little coaxing.

6. Jake from Dragonhaven, by Robin McKinley
Jake is a bit rambling... tending to run off on tangents... but he's humble and thoughtful. And, he could introduce me to dragons: definite bonus.

5. Temeraire from His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik
Not only would it be immensely awesome to boast a dragon as a friend, but this particular dragon loves books. Oh, the discussions we could get into!

4. Skeeter from the Help, by Kathryn Stockett
She totally didn't fit in with the other girls she grew up with; she could see right through them. And she was proud to call black maids her friends in the South of the 1960's. This is my kinda girl. Not to mention we could talk writing...

3. Cynthia from The Mitford series, by Jan Karon
Another writer (and illustrator), full of laughter and bravery and vulnerability. A bright, shining soul. She is so much fun to read, I'm sure she'd be a great real friend, too.

2. Bilbo from the Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Because he loves to be at home. Reading, eating, puttering in his garden, like me; and yet he's also liable to being whisked off into adventures by wizards.

1. Lucy from the Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
Because who knows what I might find behind wardrobe doors if I were friends with her... and I just love her kindness, her frankness, her young/old soul.

What character would you want for a friend?