Wishful Wednesday: Thursday Next

So, I was really surprised with Wishful Wednesday this week. A while back, on this post Kelsey left me a comment that went something along the lines of "you're hilarious, help me come up with WW topics!" (okay, not even close to a direct quote, but what's wrong with a little shameless self praise?). And then this weekend, when I was plum out of ideas for things to write about since all my adventures have been abducted by schoolwork, I was left to think about topics which were outside of every-day-life things.

First I bloggy-cheated and asked you, my loyal readers, to ask me questions about things that I've never written about. A whopping two of you (thanks! you fabulous two!) took up the challenge and asked me some questions that I'm still trying to sort out how to answer. I promise a post with answers soon(ish). (The post is here, and I would still love it if you wanted to ask me more!)

So then, with little recourse and an unrelenting internal desire to not give up on my blog, I did what any woman in my situation would do. I took a shower. And in that tiny think-tank of mine (have I told you how incredibly small my dorm shower is?) I came up with a wonderful topic - and then I declared that this topic was far to interesting to keep to myself, so I emailed Kelsey to see if she had been serious when she dropped me that note. And she was! Glorious!

So what was this little brainchild of mine? It goes as follows:

I wish I could play a character's role in a book and it would be...(insert fictional character's name here).

Genius, right?

My inner (is it really that inner? I'm not quite sure anymore) book reading nerd leapt at this.

Oh, and then it hid. My inner nerd abandoned me at the prospect of having to tell you just one fictional character whose life I would rather live than my own. Oh. My. Word. I've been puzzling over this question since Kelsey emailed me back saying that it would be the topic THIS week.

Okay, so you're probably tired of reading this novel I've written by now, I'll get on with the show (and no, sorry, this is not a work of fiction, so you can't pick me from my blog as your wishful wednesday answer, sorry! i hear the sighs of disappointment floating in from around the world.).

I would pick: Thursday Next from The Eyre Affair

Thursday Next is the main character in a series written by Jasper Fford. The Eyre Affair is the first in this series and it is an amazing book. She's the daughter of Wednesday Next and Colonel Next and they live in a parallel universe in Swinden in the Republic of England. She works for the Special Operations Network ("SpecOps" for short) as a LiteraTech. Oh, and she has a pet Dodo named Pickwick.

Why is she so cool? Oh, she just has the power to jump into books - and the whole world that exists within the infrastructure of the literary world. In this world the "Library" (which contains all books ever written, that will ever be written, and all pieces of stories that will never be finished) is run by the Cheshire Cat and there is an internal policing agency of novels to make sure people are in their places when their section of the book is being read. Thursday is stubborn, strong willed, and hilarious. She's smart and compassionate. And she pretty much just all around rocks.

Read more HERE. I can't really explain it well enough to do it justice, and as usual Wikipedia does a good job of providing enough details to perk your interest. You can click through and read more about Thursday herself, too. Though, don't read the whole article! It will give it away!

If you haven't read any of this series - stop reading this blog post now, get your car keys, go to your local library/bookstore/whatever and pick up a copy. Then grab a Starbucks Vanilla Chai Tea Latte in my honor (no Starbucks here, remember), sit down and enjoy. You can thank me later. Seriously.

And because I hated to pick just one, here are some runners up:

Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster)

Elizabeth in Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen)

Sunshine in Sunshine (Robin McKinley)

Kalen in Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)