to think that Amy March is one of the most irritating literary characters ever.

[squoosh]

God she annoys me, throwing Jo's book in the fire, being a general brat and then sin of sins marrying Laurie when she had no business do any such thing.

I don't care what the subsequent books may say the Amy/Laurie union was a stupid idea.

They should have left her to drown in the icy river.

Oh and I was annoyed that Jem was called James Matthew and not Matthew James. Matthew saved her life! Captian Jim was just some nice old man.

Maybe Gilbert had a say, though? He must have done because she didn't like her own name but Nan was another 'Anne'. (And isn't 'nan' uglier even than ann-without-an-e?)

it is ok squoosh, Anne's chin lines remain unblurred to the end

I agree, Miss Cornelia is brilliant.

I also love the first Emily book, although the two follow on books were strange. I especially disliked the third one with all the disturbing love intrigues.

The Leslie plot is SO far out for an Anne book, although her short stories were all a bit like this.

Yes, maybe Anne really wanted to call him Matthew but Gilbert put his Victorian Husband foot down and insisted on James. That's what I'll tell myself.

Nan is a horrific name. To be honest those two had terrible taste in names, Nan, Walter, Bertha.........

Walters middle name was cuthbert too!

I really like Nan as a name.

Walter and Bertha I can do without.

Walter Cuthbert Blythe! Good grief.

That bullet had his name on it from the moment he was born.

To be fair, wasn't Bertha Anne's mother's name? And Walter her father's?

Still don't like 'em much.

You're so mean!

His poetry was pretty shit, though, wasn't it? Olivia (was she Olivia?) told him to write a poem about birch trees being pagan maidens that hadn't lost the secret of being naked and unashamed, IIRC. Yeah.

I like Nan although Shirley for a boy always made me laugh. And Joyce always seemed wrong for a baby - Joy is lovely though painfully ironic in the circumstances.

Feel sure Walter, Cuthbert and Bertha are about to come back into fashion.

Sorry Walter!

At least you weren't as annoying as that Paul person and his rock people and Mother Lilac.

No, I think it was Mother Lavender.

Shirley! How could I forget little boy Shirley.

Good point Poledra, and actually there is a really touching bit in Anne of the Island (I think) where she finds the house where she was born and her parents' love letters.

I ADORE Anne of the Island. I wanted to live in that book.

It was Mother Lavender.

Paul was a very wishy-washy character, I think she went off the boil a bit there.

I did quite like the ones where Anne was living with her mates in Patty's Place and going to university. That must have been quite unusual back then, mustn't it?

Oh God Paul is cringeworthy. Even worse than Emily of New Moon.

Mind you that sort of drippy childish fantasy was very of its time, cf the lesser works of J M Barrie and co.

Or the bloody Water Babies.

Shirley was Susan's little brown boy, but he didn't seem to feature in the stories much, did he?

And yes, I wanted to live in Patty's Place with Gog and Magog and Anne and Philippa and Stella and Aunt Jimsie! I'm getting to reread all the Anne books with DD1, who adores them too - it's fabulous.

Patty's Place seemed ace although she did lead the millionaire Royal Gardener on in a shocking way. They were together for years!

The Water Babies, cringe.

Anne of the Island is lovely, the whole dynamic with house sharing and essays and slightly unsuitable boyfriends just feels so realistic, even modern. Think Canada was well ahead of the UK in the educating female stakes - of course women did go to university in the late 19th century here but it's presented as really normal in the Anne books rather than as something remarkable.

Cannot believe no one has mentioned DORA BLOODY SPENLOW in a "most irritating literary characters" thread.

I mean . . . < astonished >

Balloon...I played Dora Spenlow once...in a production of David Copperfield and I got on my own tits!

I could never stand Melanie in Gone with the Wind. First of all she pinches Ashley,not that he's much of a catch, from right under Scarlett's nose but then she causes a lot of trouble by deciding to have a baby during the destruction of Atlanta.

She is just so blooming good all the time and can't even see that Scarlett is after Ashley,God knows why. Then we have the deathbed scene without any coughing or retching or unladylike croaking. Really really hate her.