Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a new topic each week for bloggers to join in with their own top ten. If you’re looking for some new or different book blogs to read, hop on over to her site and check out some of the links.
There is going to be quite a deviation of form for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday. Instead of a list of ten (or more…or less) I’m going to free form some thoughts on the topic. So if you came here for a list, I’m sorry to disappoint.
This week’s topic (Characters That Remind Me of Myself) really stumped me. One of the things I do when reading a book is find myself empathizing with the characters. I always put myself into at least one character in the story. It’s not always the main character or a female character. But there’s always one or more character that I climb into, so to speak. This enables me to really live in the story. Which means that every book I read has a character that, to some extent, reminds me of myself.
That being said, I am under no delusions that I’m as strong, or kind, or weak, or mean, or fill in the blank as these characters. But there is always something that speaks to me. Which means that there isn’t one (or ten) characters I can pick out with any sort of ease to feature on such a list.
I realize that my ramblings may not make sense to everyone. Reading is a very personal experience for me, and I think that’s true of most avid readers. For some reason, this particular topic seems more personal than the others. I always think of myself as quite open and honest, but for some reason I have a mental block to figuring out the characters that are most like the true me.
I’m looking forward to seeing how other book bloggers take on this topic. Not only do I think I’ll learn a lot about the bloggers whose lists I read, but I also think those lists will help me understand my own reticence this week.
All In Good Time 
I think you are right. I think I always find a character to identify with in the novels I read. And of course this is how I see myself, but there is nothing that says that is how others see me.
Nicely said.
This makes total sense. I hope you find a lot of inspiration in other people’s answers.
My TTT.
This week’s prompt sure was a challenging one, wasn’t it? I had to really scratch my head, too. I feel like I need to be able to emphasize or relate to at least one or two characters in a book in order to make it seem worthwhile for me to read, but I guess there’s a difference between me empathizing with them or understanding their position and me actually seeing myself in them. It’s a pretty fine line, but it’s an interesting one to think about. I hope reading other people’s posts will maybe spark something for you. :3
Here’s my TTT post.
I felt a little awkward about this topic too. It feels so much like “here’s all the characters that remind me of myself” and then also, “AREN’T THEY SO COOL?!!!!?!?!” So I totally get what you mean that it’s an extremely personal topic.
I tend to get into my character’s heads when I read too. Usually my mind becomes that of the female protagonist. Some people say that they age up the characters they’re reading, but if I’m reading a YA book, I usually age myself down to match the character I’m reading about.
I don’t see characters as fully me, I was looking at overall personalities then ended with personality traits. I didn’t find it challenging to start, but it was harder to find 10, so that’s why I ended with traits. But personality “matches” aren’t the whole story of what makes a person, if I was placed by all these characters most people would think, “what, you are not alike?” That’s what makes every one so much too complicated for a personality category. I think it’s interesting to see so many different takes on this topic, including your post, makes it much more thought-provoking.