What Books Would/Should Characters Buy?


Alison Morris - March 12, 2009

Do you think Huck Finn would read The Dangerous Book for Boys? On Monday’s post about the clothes book characters might buy today, writer (and former bookseller!) Linda Mowry commented that the post’s title, What Would Nancy Drew Buy?, led her to believe that I’d be asking what BOOKS Nancy Drew might pick up were she browsing in today’s bookstores. This is a perfectly understandable mistake and a perfectly wonderful blog post suggestion! SO, running with Linda’s idea, I’m asking you: What books do you think Nancy Drew would buy? And, just to open the field a bit wider, what books do you think other characters would pick up on their store visits? Or (if that’s too tricky) what books would you recommend TO them?

Linda said she thinks Nancy Drew would pick the following books, for the following reasons: "Because of her keen sense of justice, Anderson’s Octavian books; because underneath all that daring and competence she feels a bit of an outsider, the Mysterious Benedict Society stories; and for adventure, Graceling."

I think these are all EXCELLENT suggestions!

Now it’s your turn. Tell what what you think different book characters would or should buy and (if you’ve got a minute and/or it’s not entirely clear) WHY.

11 thoughts on “What Books Would/Should Characters Buy?

  1. Julianne Daggett

    Katniss would buy “The Wilderness Survival Guide” to survive The Hunger Games. Peeta may buy “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” because he has such a hard time understanding Katniss.

    Reply
  2. Karen Gray Ruelle

    Touché, Brenda Bowen! (That’s “borrowing,” right?!) And Huck Finn wouldn’t read The Dangerous Book for Boys–he could WRITE that book, if he had any inclination to write, which of course he wouldn’t. By the way, a much younger Nancy Drew might have enjoyed Chasing Vermeer. and an older, more mature Eloise, might read The True Meaning of Smekday to her kids.

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  3. Suzan Abrams

    I think any of the many fairy characters in an Enid Blyton tale would take a break from their toadstool tea parties, to join a book club and devour the J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Or they may turn groupies instead.

    Reply
  4. eonegin

    Marguerite Duras’ character from The Lover would read and admire the obsessions of love and taboo desires depicted in Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s The Mirror in the Well.

    Reply
  5. bina

    Pigeon would love Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance as would Duck of Duck on a Bike fame… Gregor would love David Macaulay’s Underground. So would the City of Ember-ites. Gregor might also enjoy the Peterson’s guides to different critters like bats and cockroaches. Wallace Wallace from No More Dead Dogs would like books on adopting pets from animal shelters.

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  6. bookwoman

    Getting back to Nancy Drew, I think she’d LOVE Sammy Keyes! How could she do anything but appreciate a strong, self confident young woman out to solve the mysteries wrapped through her life?

    Reply

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