Think About It Thursday!

Think About It Thursday is a meme hosted by Rachel at 1001 Books.  Please feel free to play along!

Today's question:  Is there a character that reminds you of yourself or someone else? Why?


Ummmm....

{do you hear crickets chirping?}

I think I'm going to need to think about these before I start the post.  

Having now sat here for about 20 minutes thinking about this, the only character that repeatedly comes to mind is Hermione Granger, from the incredibly fantastic Harry Potter series by the wonderful J.K. Rowling.  In case you haven't read them, let me attempt to briefly summarize Hermione for you.  She is a strong, brave bookworm, who is willing to do pretty much anything in order to help her best friend, Harry Potter, not only defeat the evil Lord Voldemort but survive the battle as well.  I could go into a lot more detail, but I'll spare you.

Reasons Hermione reminds me of me:

 Hermione's best friends are boys.  Most of the people I've ever considered best friends were guys as well.  I just don't understand the drama that seems to go with being friends with girls.  I've been lucky to find a few girls who feel the same way, but it takes me a while to warm up to other girls.  Guys are just so much easier to get along with.

Hermione is an only child, but ends up with an honorary family.  I'm an only child, but only biologically.  My cousins and I were raised very closely- we saw them about once a month, I think.  Being the second oldest, I learned pretty early most of the lessons that come with having siblings.  We're closer than most cousins.  Besides them, I've been lucky to have grown up in one church, resulting in a church family; I've become so close with a few my friends AND their families that I'm often referred to as the extra daughter; and I have two sisters I met on youth group retreats; we mutually recognized our sisterhood within hours of our first meeting.  These are not just friends, they are family. 

Hermione goes to extreme lengths to protect her friends and goes to drastic lengths to protect her parents.  Luckily, I haven't really had to actually physically protect my friends or parents, but I entirely, wholeheartedly, understand her exact thought process.  There is literally nothing that I wouldn't do if it were necessary to protect my parents.  There are only a few things that I wouldn't do to protect my family and friends.  While the likelyhood of me ever being on the very front line against an enormous evil is extremely slim, I'd like to think I'd handle myself with the dignity and coolheadedness which Hermione uses.  She's terrified, but channels that into her desire to protect everyone, which in turn gets poured into her fighting.  (And she says Harry has a saving people thing!) 

Hermione's a bookworm.  Do I really have to say it?  :)  She thinks Hogwarts, A History is a bit of light reading at about 1000 pages.  Deathly Hallows is 749 pages and isn't the longest of the series.

There are a lot of other characters in whom I see a little part of myself, Jane Eyre, Dicey from Cynthia Voigt's Homecoming books, several of Nora Robert's characters.  I think that says more about the authors, though, than about me.  These writers are capable of creating characters with whom nearly any reader can identify.   Want to know a secret?  Someday I hope to do the same.

What about you, ladies?

And yes, in case you were wondering, when the Glee countdown is over it will be replaced by a Harry Potter countdown. :)  Yay for November!