25 March 2011

Libby's turn: what does a British girl think about it?

Walk into a British bookstore and most of the teen fiction will be pastel-hued novels by Louise Rennison and the like. The lines from these diary-style confessional, laugh-out-loud books cause, along with cackling laughter, huge.huge.huge swooning. On a Victorian, pass-me-the-smelling salts level. Why? Oh, simply because they house some of the sweetest, most gorgeous, loveliest gents that twenty-first century British teen literature has to offer.

Actually, scratch that. Some of the sweetest, most gorgeous, loveliest gents that twenty-first century Western teen literature has to offer. Because sparkly boys with an addiction to blood don't really do it for me. Surely I cannot be alone in this belief? So--an exhibition of sweet, funny, and not-exactly bad-looking fictional guys.

Exhibit a: Kartik in A Great And Terrible Beauty.
He's Indian. But, he's living in Britain and the book is written by a Brit. So, roll with it. He's sensitive and nice and handsome. And quite possibly a ghost, which only adds to the allure.

Exhibit b: Robbie in Confessions Of Georgia Nicholson
Lovely chap. Oh, he's not half bad in the films either!

Exhibit c: Ron Weasley in Harry Potter
Yes, Ron. I stopped the series someplace around the fifth book because Harry was not exactly my style of reading but Ron was my fav. He was kind of down-to-earth and he was funnier than Harry.

Exhibit d: Billy in Ally's World
Billy is awesome. He's such a typical boy, blanking out on important conversations and droning on about xBox, but secretly romantic too.

And that's not even starting on the classics. Oh, Mr Darcy! And some crazy people find Heathcliff romantic {I want to swear at him, frankly}. Not forgetting Mr Rochester either...

Looking back over this list, I seem to be listing fairly 'normal' boys. And isn't that what we want? Not sparkly bloodsuckers, hairy wood-dwellers, or the traitorous but gorgeous guys.

So--yes. Perhaps some of the boys in my French class leave a lot to be desired. But in the realms of fiction? We, the British, are unbeatable.

{and I swear I don't normally speak--or type--this 'englishly'. But when writing about Britain I feel the need to drop in terribly British phrases. And drink tea.}
xx
Libby

15 comments:

  1. boys in books are always better...no matter where they are from. ron weasley made the list! you know you should really start up on HP again, ron gets even better!
    LF

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  2. hahaha "and drink tea" I feel very Brit when I do that to lol

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  3. RON WEASLEY. Yes. :) and I love British things (duh). Speaking of tea, I think I'll go make some. Lovely!

    ~Kendall

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  4. OH MY GOSH. I just made my "Top 10 Sexiest Book Characters" list and Kartik was one of the first guys that crossed my mind ;)

    ~Stephanie

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  5. yes, boys in books are always better.

    I love this post, Libby. :)

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  6. And we can easily see their flaws and good points in fiction. Sometime in reality it takes a little longer...

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  7. In the US, the whole YA/teen section at the bookstore is nothing but vampires. I'm so sick of it! Even when I see a cover that doesn't look vampirish (you know, they have that look), a quick scan or reading the back reveals that it is still about vampires.

    Mr. Darcy is the best. :) Mr. Knightley's not too bad, either. But I never liked Heathcliff.

    Most of my favorite books and authors are British, and I'm pretty fascinated with anything British.

    You should definitely give the rest of Harry Potter a try. I agree with what someone else said, Ron only gets better. :)

    ~Kristin

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  8. Mr Knightley, Arthur Clennam. And years ago I had a huge crush on Mr Rochester. ;) Heathcliff...a little too scary for me.

    And believe me, a lot of us Americans can't stand the vampire/werewolf stuff either. Hopefully the next trends will be better. Though I'm not very hopeful...

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  9. I love you talking in English phrases! It makes my day :)

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  10. Yeah, Ron is pretty awesome. Mr. Knightley takes the trophy for me, though. ;)

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  11. So I love your blog. It's so unique. I'm new to blogging, and I was wondering how you add all the cool extras to a blog and make it look so great. <3

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  12. Oh, Libby. First I want to say, I LOVE THE WAY YOU SPEAK!! It's so...um.."Britishly" (sorry I'm a Texan girl, so we admire everything you do over in England...we also say England more than Britain) and really cool. Love this post!!!
    -Jocee <3

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  13. Exactley! Harry potter is an amazing book series! But I agree, Harry has too much of a big head.

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  14. Mr Darcy is my HERO! :D
    I love Ron, Harry bothers me... but not Ron. xD

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  15. oh Libby! This was such an amazing post. :)

    xx,
    Bleah

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