Short stories of Ray Bradbury are wild & visionary. I like your technique. Very useful! Thanks!

I connected strongly with Esther from Bleak House and Marya from War & Peace. The bookclub member comments that were read were so wonderful! I am very motivated now to read Middlemarch and Paradise Lost.

Tie between YHWH and Jesus, but if we don’t count God, here we go- Hamlet, Jean Valjean, Don Quixote, Scrooge, Godric, Sherlock, Alyosha Karamazov, King Lear, Ahab, Hester Prynne, Elizabeth Bennett, Gandalf, Falstaff, Oedipus, Ulysses, Willie Loman, Blanche DuBois, Mrs. Dalloway, Jane Eyre, and Winnie ther Pooh. But now I’ve thought of scores more…ugh! Wow! I really wasn’t expecting Jesus to be mentioned here at all when I wrote the above. Pleasantly surprised. And oh, so many more have come to mind as I edit this. Thank you for the stroll down this boulevard where so many my friends live.

I don’t know who the best character in literature is, but I know who has the best facial hair on YT, and his name rhymes with Shmenjamin ShmcEvoy

Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò Bartleby Henry Jekyll Grazie mille for your great contents, Benjamin! Dear greetings from a new enthusiastic italian subscriber.

Ben, you make reading not only fun but life-changing. Thank you for all you do. Eternally grateful that you have re-awoken my love of reading 📖

Great list, but disappointing not seeing Alyosha, Ivan, or even the greatest in my personal opinion Prince Myshkin…

Benjamin, (sarcastically) Thanks a lot for getting me hooked on Shakespeare. The reason I say, I started Henry IV last week. Then Falstaf and Hal come up in this conversation.

My personal favourites are: Ishmael from Moby Dick (he's such a nerd, and so am I) Grete from the Metamorphosis (I really feel the book is entirely about her) Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's (not the most likeable character by any means but I've met a few people like her and she felt too real to ignore) EDIT: And, of course, Albus Dumbledore!

Link to the list you're reacting to?

Edmond's real fight in the Count of Monte Cristo was against revenge. That became such an evil force in him. I love the character because he was so flawed and because Alexandre Dumas used him to show an even better way to live.

My favorite character is Atticus Finch. Maybe it is from growing up in the American south, but I've always idolized him and seen him as the character I've most learned from. I've always felt Harper Lee managed to shine a light on both the best and the worst of this area that she and I call home. Atticus is the best of the American south to me, something to aspire to be.

Loved this thoughtful and as always insightful compilation and analysis of the comments, while bringing in your own wealth of knowlege as well as that of so many literary critics. Thank you, Ben! And thanks, bookclub!

Sherlock Homes is an ISTJ. I have a friend with this type. He is reliable, detail oriented, and emotions annihilate him. I too am an INFJ. Like you, I'm good at MBTI typing, and I too resisted Dorothea. Samuel Hamilton: I loved him. It is significant that he's part of the story as an old man. Would he have been as wise if he'd been young? I think he's an INFJ too. I might say the same for Lee, the Asian man servant. He and Sam understood and elevated each other. They were the ones who obsessed with the Bible quote: "Thou Mayest." INFJs are interactive learners. These men needed each other. Great Expectations: Loved John Wemmick, his goofy house, and his ancient Parent. Sam Gamgee. Page 192 of Please Understand Me, by Keirsey & Bates - the first sentence to describe ESFJ. "ESFJs, the most social of all types, are energized by interactions with people, tending to idealize whatever or whoever they admire." I know I have been verbose. It's because this is my favorite youtube video ever. I am a retired English teacher and a writer. This is my ambrosia or magic gummie. Cheers and Blessings

❤❤❤ The Sorting Hat said "Gryffindor", no need for Myers-Briggs 😊

Captain Ahab K Holden Caulfield Blake (The Unlimited Dream Company) Lestat

I identify most with Dorothea Brookes but Lydgate is my favorite from Middlemarch. He feels like my little brother and I want to protect him. I also have a soft spot for Anne Shirley of the famed Green Gables, even though she would drive me mad in real life.

Tolkien made something that feels like he saw a glimpse of somewhere at a different time but real all the same

I got chills when you said Jesus is your #1. Because He, together with Holy Scripture, does everything for me that you have said that good literature can do for everyone. I'm very pleased for you. God bless!

I just want to say this video has been a godsend to me. I could say a LOT more but I’ll leave it there. Thank you so much. Also: I’m recommending the stories of Mavis Gallant, brilliant Canadian author who lived in Paris. Her story The Late Homecomer made Denis Johnson cry. Cheers.

INFJ, same as me. Not always an easy personality to be. I find myself often drawn to more extrovert characters while appreciating the deep thoughtful ones too. This may be why I appreciate the balanced friendship between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. Together they form a whole.

Alyosha from TBK and Zorba from Zorba the Greek for me

Heathcliff wasn't mentioned because the reader is never inside his head. We see him though other's eyes. Furthermore, his dialogue is limited to his love for Cathy One and his anger at being separated from this monomania. His character would have more dimension if he'd had concerns beyond his obsessive revenge seeking for being thwarted in love. Nellie, on the other hand, was "deep, complex,& imperfect.

Zaphod Beeblebrox forever! But ofcourse the whole main cast is phenomenal

Very interesting and nice indeed. A personal favourite character would be Alexis Zorbas. Have you ever thought to make a video about Nikos Kazantzakis? Except Alexis Zorbas (the title of the novel is actually «The Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas») as you know Kazantzakis wrote at least two other great novels: «Christ Recrucified» and «The Last Temptation». It would be very nice indeed to see your Kazantzakis's discussion / recommendation in the future.

For me, it’s probably Don Quixote/Sancho Panza. Their relationship is PERFECT.

One of my favourites has always been Galadriel. It's a shame that LotR doesn't do her justice, you really need to read Silmarillion and other more nerdy and less accessible stuff from Tolkien to see her character in a more active role. She has such an interesting background; LotR makes her look almost perfect and her role is rather passive, but she does have an element of evil inside which is better explored in Silmarillion. LotR is too much of a sausage fest, let's be honest, there are almost no female characters.

I have recently gotten back into reading again, and your videos really inspired me to get into 'deep' literature and re-sparked a joy for fiction, so thank you Benjamin! Although I haven't read too much, my favourite characters so far are probably Franny from Franny & Zooey, Alyosha from TBK, Sonya from C&P, Arturo Bandini from John Fante's quaternity, and Mick Kelly from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by McCullers :)))

I love these kind of videos

Bertie Wooster and Jeeves. Comedy is every bit as important as tragedy, imo.

This question would be much easier if it wasn't just literature.

What a great video. For me is Meursault from Camu’s stranger

Sherlock Holmes is good, but Hercule Poirot is great. I read all of Christie's Poirot novels, and he FAR exceeds Sherlock as a character, and as a thinker. As far as Hugo, I would vote for the characters in Hunchback, especially Claude Frollo, one of my favorite books and a much more memorable read for me than Les Miserable.

I really love the narrator of In Search of Lost Time. I find his sentimentality to be much needed. His conclusions on the world are, in my opinion, high pieces of wisdom. His search for meaning in a world where everything is passing along is very touching. The whole cast as well is very powerful, and I find them to be extensions of the narrator, due to us only getting glimpses of them in his perception.

I like the horse 'Black Beauty'. Lol! But seriously though.

For me it's Anne Shirley

"He is a great favorite." Well, not a "favorite" as such, but certainly one of the most impressive characters ever put to the page: Judge Holden from Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian." I've never been as afraid of a literary creations since I was a child of 9 or 10, reading "The The Investitators and the Secret of Terror Castle". Of course, the Judge is so much more than just a character and the more you understand of him, the more frightened you should rightly be. There've been days when I came home, half expecting to find him sitting in my living room... Otherwise: Raskolnikov, Ivan and Aljosha Karamasov, Hamlet, Faust & Mephistopheles, Suttree, Lester Ballard, Phillip Marlowe, Gandalf. And, going into graphic novels and manga: Dream from "Sandman", Bigby Wolf and Frau Totenkinder from "Fables", Batman, and Ogami Itto from "Lone Wolf and Cub."

Beard suits u bro!!!

Personal favorite is Jack Aubrey, and his surgeon, Stephen Maturin. Characters of tremendous integrity and honor. Inspirational.

Randall Flagg was a good one.

As usual, informative feedback about aslew of character and the function of each to identify their strengthness as well as weakness at different part of written books , Iam looking forward to further review including your opinion about them

My reading journey was jump started by Edmund Dantes, but as the years passed I've fallen in love with Rhett Butler (Gone With The Wind), Hank Morgan (Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court), Marc Antony (Antony and Cleopatra) Jim Casy (Grapes of Wrath), and Randle McMurphy (One Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest).

My honorable mentions: The Un-Man (Perelandra) Bigwig (Watership Down) Blackthorne (Shogun) Hyoi (Out of the Silent Planet)

K. Levin has my heart. Peripheral character: i recently watched Bleak House, and Sir Leicester Dedlock was such a heartbreak.

Sir Percy Blakeney.

New 90 minute Benjamin McEvoy video, love to see it

IVANHOE

For me Rosalind is my favourite character from Shakespeare specifically. I thought she was compelling and interesting throughout As You Like It, and I sometimes imagine the existence of a lost play where we could learn more about her. Also, I think the HLBC members have great taste. It was really great seeing Judge Holden and Pierre Bezukhov on the list!

ROBIN HOOD

QUEEQUEG