Ten Books I've Read Whose Titles Are Female Characters' Names

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

It's a freebie week! A while back there was a topic of single-word titles, and I realized a lot of the one-word titles were names, so I decided to save those for a separate post. I decided to limit it to books where the name is a female character.

1. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti is the first of the Himba people accepted to Oomza University, and she must travel among the stars to reach it. But an alien race is looking for revenge on Oomza — will she be caught in the middle?

2. Emma by Jane Austen
Emma Woodhouse imagines herself to have great, benevolent control over the lives of those around her, whether serving as a matchmaker or trying to refine the manners of her lower-class friend, Harriet Smith. But things begin to unravel quickly as she suspects romantic feelings that are not actually there, encourages feelings on one side that are not actually reciprocated, and is completely ignorant of feelings that do exist.

3. George by Alex Gino
Ten-year-old George knows she's a girl, but that's not what people see when they look at her. When her teacher says she can't try out for the part of Charlotte in the class play, Charlotte's Web, because she's not a girl, she hatches a plan to show everyone who she really is.

4. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Heidi goes to live in the Alps with her grandfather, and her positivity and optimism brighten the lives of those around her. The book is a bit simplistic and prescriptively religious, but Heidi is an endearing character.

5. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita is the victim of a single-minded child molester in this classic book that is hard to read for its subject matter and yet endures because of its incredibly beautiful language. Nabokov forces the reader through the cognitive dissonance of being verbally entranced by a despicable narrator.

6. Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards
Mandy's life as an orphan isn't all sunshine and rainbows, but she manages to find her own special project that allows her to feel pride and independence and eventually leads her to build connections with others.

7. Matilda by Roald Dahl
Matilda goes from a neglectful family to a school with an abusive headmistress. Rather than allowing these experiences to break her, she channels her frustration into power and ingenuity, finding clever ways to get back at those who have hurt her and others.

8. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
I got this on audio recently so I can finally reread it, like I've been saying I want to for years! Rebecca is our narrator's husband's deceased first wife, and somehow she still has a hold over the household...

9. Ruby by Cynthia Bond
Ruby has been worn down by a lifetime of neglect and abuse. To be honest, I had mixed feelings about this book, as the storytelling and the writing are very good, but I was continually tripped up by what felt like unnecessary supernatural elements and excessive, sometimes gratuitous abuse and violence, mostly sexual.

10. Sadie by Courtney Summers
I just reread this for book club, a year after I first read it, and I loved it even more. Sadie is on the hunt for her sister's killer, and her story alternates with a true crime podcast that's following her trail after she herself goes missing.

Which books have you read that would fit this theme?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Horse and His Boy and Imperium
Five years ago I was reading: Dangerous Girls, Brown Girl Dreaming, The Princess Bride, and Nervous Conditions
Ten years ago I was reading: Angela's Ashes

Ten Character Names That Are Fun to Say

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

I've done characters I'd name a dog after before, but never just shared some overall great character names. That's what this week's topic is about! It's hard to narrow it down to a list of favorites (names I would actually want for my children? names that capture the character's personality well?) so I went with ones that are fun to say.

1. Albus Dumbledore (the Harry Potter series)

2. Faintly Macabre (The Phantom Tollbooth)

3. Huckleberry Finn (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

4. Inigo Montoya (The Princess Bride)

5. Jean Valjean (Les Misérables)

6. Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games)

7. Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Longstocking)

8. Queequeg (Moby-Dick)

9. Ramona Quimby (the Ramona Quimby series)

10. S.Q. Pedalian (The Mysterious Benedict Society)

What other characters have great names to say aloud?

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Thanks for supporting A Cocoon of Books!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Open Adoption Book, The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing, and Dune
Five years ago I was reading: The Homecoming of Samuel Lake, The Lightning Thief, and Does Jesus Really Love Me?
Ten years ago I was reading: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Top Ten Characters I'd Name a Dog After

I'm linking up with The Broke and the Bookish for another Top Ten Tuesday.

I grew up in a cat family and married into a dog family, and we currently live in a place that doesn't allow pets. When we have our own house someday, my husband has his heart set on getting several large dogs like the kind he grew up with, though he's agreed I can get one "lap-sized" dog for myself. So I combed through some of my favorite books to see if there were any good character names for these future pups. Here's what I came up with.

1. Belgarath (The Belgariad series)
Of all the characters in the series, I had to go with Belgarath, since he's the wolf. It's a little cumbersome as a pet's name, so it might be better to drop the honorific "Bel" prefix and just call him Garath.

2. Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)
This name could represent the whole family central to the book, but I particularly like to think of it as referring to Mr. Bennet, the character that nobody else seems to find as funny as I do.

3. Fern (We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves)
OK, so Fern wasn't a dog, she was <NO SPOILERS>, but given the context it's still a good name for someone you're going to consider part of your family, right?

4. Holmes (A Study in Scarlet)
Although my favorite fictional detective is Hercule Poirot, neither part of his name rolls off my American tongue the way you want a dog's name to. I could definitely name a dog the snappy one-syllable Holmes, though, as a tribute to my love of mysteries.

5. Mango (A Mango-Shaped Space)
I know, I know, Mango is a cat. You could totally have a dog named Mango, though. Just work with me here.

6. Milligan (The Mysterious Benedict Society)
Milligan is the fierce protector who's always there at the right moment to save you from danger but who has a heart full of love. Don't those sound like the qualities of a good dog?

7. Rucker (Cold Sassy Tree)
There are a lot of great names in this Southern family drama, but Grandpa Blakeslee's first name has the sharp consonants that, to me, sound most like a dog's name.

8. Tock (The Phantom Tollbooth)
Look, I found a character who's actually a dog this time! I mean, a dog crossed with a watch. I love this book and would love to pay tribute to one of its main characters.

9. Tonks (The Harry Potter series)
I debated about which of the many colorfully named characters from these series would be best, but I finally settled on Tonks as the one I'd be most likely to actually name a dog after. It's not quite well known enough for non-Harry Potter fans to catch onto, but fellow fans would immediately get the reference.

10. Trunchbull (Matilda)
I tried to stay away from evil characters' names, but this one is just too fun, in classic Dahl style. Wouldn't it be cute to have a bulldog named Trunchbull?

What characters would you recommend for our future dogs?

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Thanks for supporting A Cocoon of Books!