YA Writer, Tech Support Girl & Tea Addict

Today’s Paper Hangover ’Friday Fives’ question: Who are your FIVE favorite literary sidekicks?

There’s a lot of awesome sidekicks out there, so I just dove into my brain and pulled out a few of my most memorable favourites.

Hermione (Harry Potter) – Hermione is just the best. Smart and brave while still being awkward and irritating others around her. She’s realistic, and I completely related to her as a kid (and I still do now).

 

Tiny Cooper (Will Grayson, Will Grayson) - The larger-than-life gay theatre star, Tiny is an essential part of the WG, WG story, helping bring the two Wills together. I really want to read a spin-off book about this guy.

Mogget (Sabriel) – A morally dubious, dangerous cat-creature, Mogget’s been enslaved and forced to serve a family of necromancers. But Sabriel’s trials involve more than just putting up with the snarky animal – she’ll have to trust him.

John H. Watson (Sherlock Holmes) -

I’m on a huge Sherlock kick thanks to the fantastic BBC series, and I debated putting him on this list… but Doctor Watson is a classic, brilliant sidekick, and a trope-creator.

Where would we be, without Watson to explain the crazy workings of Sherlock’s mind? You could try to tell the story in first-person from Sherlock’s point of view (and I would love that, actually), but Watson’s there for more than just explanations – he shows that Sherlock does have a protective, human side. If Watson wasn’t there, Sherlock would risk becoming dangerous apathetic and distanced from people around him.

Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings) – Just like Watson and Hermione, Samwise is a brilliant sidekick because you know the hero would be utterly screwed without them. They’re essential in stopping the protagonist being ruined by their own flaws – without Sam, Frodo would never be able to make it to Mount Doom.

And in a similar way to Watson, Sam keeps Frodo’s humanity in check by forcing him to stay down-to-earth and to care about Sam’s safety.

And because I had trouble narrowing this list down, have some Runners Up – these two were ruled out because they didn’t quite fit the ‘sidekick’ definition:

Marla Singer (Fight Club): Does she count as a sidekick? Marla’s a disturbed lady thrown into some absolutely insane circumstances, but she still carries this assured self-confidence with her that masks her issues. I’d kind of love to see a Fight Club sequel if it was from her point of view.
Angua (Discworld series): The first werewolf cop in Ankh-Morpork, Angua is every kind of kick-ass.

Reading positions by Kate Beaton

It misses my personal favourite out (cup of tea in one hand, book in the other, legs curled up) but I still love this image.
As a quick reminder, I'm still posting on my Tumblr regularly.

A very late entry to Paper Hangover‘s Friday Fives today. They asked: What are the FIVE books you’re looking forward to in 2012?

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking).

Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets.Or are there?

I bought this as an e-book without ever hearing anything about it, because of it’s brilliant title and intriguing storyline. Now a lot of people are talking about it, and after hearing one writer describe it as better than the Hunger Games I’m eager to try it out.

Shatter Me #2  by Tahereh Mafi.

I need more Warner. There is never enough Warner. And as mentioned in my review, I’m very curious about where Tahereh is going to take this series.

Divergent (and Insurgent) by Veronica Roth.

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

“Divergent” has been on my to-read list for ages. This year will be the year I read it. Eventually.

Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick.

The final book in the paranormal romance series about a girl and a snarky fallen angel named Patch. I’m a fangirl for the “Hush, Hush” series, and I’ll be waiting patiently for the final volume to hit the shelves this Fall.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler.

It’s 1996 and very few high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented until several years in the future. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD. She and her best friend Josh power it up and log on – and discover themselves on Facebook in 2011. Everybody wonders what they’ll be like fifteen years in the future. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

I am reading this entirely because the two main characters are called Emma and Josh.

 

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

 

(i have nothing to say here, this poem really says it all.)

You can never have enough Edgar Allan Poe-try, right?

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?