Book Characters That Became My Friends

I went back through my diaries since 1982 and looked at all the books I have read. These are the books where the characters still stick in my head.

Author Belva Plain- I have read several books by her, she has great characters, but they are not "feel good" books, they usually have a sad ending.

Author Anne Tyler- These are good for an airplane trip, I know the characters will be interesting, but again, they are usually a bit depressing. I've read Saint Maybe, Ladder of Years, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Breathing Lessons, Accidental Tourist.

Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross. These are mystery books about a southern 60 yr old busybody. These are great fun, I usually laugh out loud a couple of times per book because of her pickiness and the way she is so uppity and judgmental to everyone she knows in her town. Be sure to read them in the correct order.(I really dislike mystery books, but these are more novels than mysteries.)

A Woman of Independent Means- Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. The whole thing consists of her letters to various people. You get to know her only by what she writes, you can't tell what the other people are thinking.

Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani. I've only read one book by Trigiani, but I can't wait to read another one. Lucia is so likable, she is a dressmaker in the 1950's, and highly involved with the fashion world. (The author described each piece of clothing Lucia worked on, so I was constantly picturing "Grace Kelly" type dresses.)

And Ladies of the Club- Helen Hooven Santmyer. The biggest novel I have ever read, I think it had over 1000 pages, it was massive. This novel pretty much ruined me in the fall of 1986. I had a 4 yr old, a 3 yr old, and a 1 yr old, and I started reading this book and I read it every minute I could from Sept. 13-Oct. 3. I fed the kids and changed them but don't think I paid much attention to them because I was so hooked on this novel.

When I got done, I vowed to never read another novel until my kids were much bigger. I limited myself to non-fiction for years, because of how I couldn't put down "And Ladies of the Club".

This book is SO BIG and covers the lives of two girls from their teens until they are old ladies. It starts just after the Civil War, and goes through all their childrearing years and their marriages (both happy and sad) and through their grandchildren's marriages and children.

I had to make a notebook and take notes on each character to be able to keep track of everyone and to remember who was related to who. But I still think of those characters today, I know them so well they are still part of my life.