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Original poster

Just to lower the tone - which literary hero/ine would you most like to cop off with?

217 replies

artifarti · 08/06/2009 19:26

I developed a huge crush on Tom Jones (eponymous hero of Henry Fielding novel) whilst at university. I thought he was a bit racy and go-getting, whilst at heart a thoroughly decent chap (ah, my Professor would be proud of that literary summary...)

Shortly after, I heard they were to make a film of it and, Reader, my heart raced.

After months of fevered speculation I found out that the lead role had gone to Max Beesly . Nooooo, wrong, wrong, wrong!

So, which literary figure has most set your heart/loins a-flutter?

OP posts:
HenriettaJones · 10/06/2009 10:01

ooooooooooooh Sirius! Yes me too! He was very sexy

baskingseals · 10/06/2009 09:59

Holden Caulfield

Achilles

Ranger

HenriettaJones · 10/06/2009 09:59

Janeite I agree, Strider yes up against a tree yes yes yes!

Gabriel Oak for me too.

Captain Corelli appealed to me too but I've only read that one once. (And I agree, not Nicholas Cage!)

As a child, Spiller from the Borrowers and Aramis (the Muskehound version!)

Any Jane Austen hero really, but probably Captain Wentworth does it most for me.

Sometimes I think I am "growing out" of the cad/bounder thing, but then when one comes along !

I clearly need to broaden my reading as there seem to be plenty of hot characters out there that I haven't met yet!

mrstumnus · 10/06/2009 09:55

I second Atticus Finch - perfect father, man of principle, and a great shot too. Also Fabrice from The Pursuit of Love and Laurie from Little Women (why did she marry that damn professor? Why? Why?)

FfreckleFface · 10/06/2009 09:38

Ginnifer, I love Sirius so much I named Boydog after him. I didn't reveal this earlier because I wasn't sure how acceptable it was to have crushes on characters from children's books. Thought it was a bit like fancying people from Cbeebies (but that's a whole other thread...)

Ginnifer · 10/06/2009 09:28

Mr Darcy, Colonel Brandon, Captain Wentworth
John Thornton
John Proctor

I'm a bit predictable?

Sirius from HP

... and Sharpe

IrritableGrizzly · 10/06/2009 08:31

Hmm - very embarrassingly after all these literary giants I have to lower the tone and say the only man ever to make my reading hand quiver is Luke Costello from Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. A real man who fills a pair of leather trousers very well and is amazing in bed. I wish he were mine

Also agree with Jackson Brodie - would be slightly rumpled and dirty but very good fun

LyraSilvertongue · 10/06/2009 00:24

Why Atticus Finch? I can't see that at all.

lwfh · 10/06/2009 00:06

Yes, to Bill Barrie from Sue Barton, but I had forgotten until I read it here ...

Rebus? Really? Why?

lockets · 09/06/2009 23:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

FfreckleFface · 09/06/2009 23:52

Ooh, Gabriel Oake, had forgotten him.

Carlo from Captain Corelli.

Colonel Brandon from S&S.(And also Willoughby. I loves a cad, I do.)

LyraSilvertongue · 09/06/2009 23:49

Laundryfairy, I share my men with no-one.

LyraSilvertongue · 09/06/2009 23:46

wastingmyeducation, Lestat?! Really? What's attractive about him?

othersideofthefence · 09/06/2009 23:35

Can't stop thinking about this now

Diggory Venn
Gabriel Oak
Squire Boldwood

Hugh Berringer (Cadfael)

Silk (from the David Eddings Belgariad books)

FfreckleFface · 09/06/2009 23:27

Saltire - that picture is delicious. I loved John Thornton BEFORE the BBC adaptation, Mr Armitage only fanned the flames.

And I am a Heathcliffe girl, I am afraid. It started in my early teens, but I have re-read many times and I can't get past it. Yes, he comes across as something of a bully sometimes, and admittedly is a little unstable (), but he really, really does it for me. All that passion, the dark brooding...I would love someone to adore me enough to bang his head against a tree and dig me up. (Ok, maybe that is a step too far...) Plus, there is vulnerability there. It is heartbreaking the way he calls out to Catherine when Lockwood says he has heard something at the window. Give the man his dues, his love is, um, enduring. (And I bet he'd be brutal in bed. None of that namby pamby romance nonsense!)

Also, I know he was real and not really a literary character, but I have a huge thing for Robert Dudley in Philippa Gregory's novels. If he was good enough for Elizabeth I, then he's good enough for me.

There must be more, I'll probably be back.

Rialentless · 09/06/2009 23:23

thinkI was about 10 with lawrence durrell too

alarkaspree · 09/06/2009 23:09

Oooh Steve Carella, had forgotten all about him. Yum.

When I was young I think I had a teeny crush on Hercule Poirot.

Pacita · 09/06/2009 22:52

Sam Spade

fridascruffs · 09/06/2009 22:50

Julian Audley, Lord Worth (GH)
Also Damerel, a bit (Venetia)
Jack Aubrey (Master & Commander & the rest of the series). Though he's quite a good mate too. I often think of him when the wind's in the right quarter for sailing out of port.

Hassled · 09/06/2009 22:45

87th Precinct.

And yes to Dick Diver - how could I have forgotten him?

othersideofthefence · 09/06/2009 22:43

Jay Gatsby
Dick Diver (at the beginning of Tender is The Night)
Patrick Pennington (KM Peyton)
Peter Marlow (Antonia Forest)
Rhett Butler

janeite · 09/06/2009 22:40

Would rather look at MM with stomach cramp than bleedin' puddin' face Firth!!!

Hassled · 09/06/2009 22:38

Ooh - Steve Carella. From the Ed McBain 89th Precinct books. Possibly not "literature", but still.

Hassled · 09/06/2009 22:37

Yes to Jay Gatsby.
Yes to Mr Knightley.
Yes to Sherlock Holmes.

There must be more - will think.

kikidee · 09/06/2009 22:37

Jackson Brodie - Kate Atkinson's detective.
Mikael Blomkvist from the Stieg Larsson books.