Top Ten Tuesday (4)

Freebie! Top Ten Book Narrators:

1. Princess Mia Thermopolis, The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot

Mia is overdramatic, imaginative, and a fountain of pop culture references (both highbrow and lowbrow, nice). She makes for an amazing narrator, especially because the series is written in the form of no-holds-barred diary entries. I only wish more people's stream of consciousness ramblings could be as interesting as Mia's...

2. Cassel Sharpe, The Curseworkers series by Holly Black  Ah, Cassel. Prep school boy, effortless liar, and my favorite male young adult out there. Cassel's behavior and attitude are questioned by many, but really, he's just a teenage boy trying to be good in the midst of magical organized crime.

3. Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins Katniss is a protector, survivor, and symbol to the people in her world. Katniss's narration demonstrates how her simple wish for her family to survive meets and merges with the more complex matters going on in Panem.

4. Claire Randall Fraser, The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon Claire is a smartass nurse from the 1940's that finds herself stuck in in the mid-1700s with a group of HIghlanders. Her narration is full of wit and 20th century knowledge that she can't help utilizing from time to time. Her strength and bravery make her a delight to read. I'm looking forward to reading five more books of it (please don't let anything happen to Claire, Diana Gabaldon...)

5. Nick Carraway, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald  Listen, a lot of people hate on my boy Nick for being judgmental and perhaps an unreliable narrator, but I adore him. He tells the story of Gatsby perfectly. As I write this, I'm fighting the urge to throw this notebook aside and grab my copy to reread it.

6. Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket  I started reading these books when I was a sophomore in high school. Lemony Snicket has such a  dry wit, constantly telling his reader to put the book down and read something happier. With a sprinkling of vocab words with ridiculous context clues instead of straight up definitions, I'd say that Lemony Snicket is one of the best middle grade narrators around.

7. Suze Simon, The Mediator series by Meg Cabot  Suze is an asskicking ghost mediator that can punch a ghost one minute and admire the hotness of her ghost friend Jesse the next. Suze is incredibly likable, the perfect mix of girly and gritty with a shot of independence in the mix.

8. Jill and Mandy, How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr  Jill and Mandy could not have been more different, but both of them have enjoyable voices. Mandy's detached optimism was just as captivating as Jill's snarky, grief-ridden narration. They wove together the past and present into an amazing book (that everyone should read).

9. Del, Going Underground by Susan Vaught  Del's story is one of the saddest young adult books I have read, all due to Del's narration. Del is just trying to keep his head down in a world where he was labeled a sex offender for exchanging pictures with his girlfriend. Del's voice is so likable that I spent the entire book hoping that his life would start going in a better direction.

10. Torey Adams, The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci  Torey's story, as told through a website he created to explain the mystery of Christopher Creed's disappearance, showed that not everyone in their town was as heartless and messed up as they seemed. Torey's caring voice is what makes this book so great.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish