We highlighted Susan Isaacs’ new novel As Husbands Go two weeks ago in our Book of the Day newsletter, and that review turned out to be one of our most popular of the month to date.
A combination of satire and suspense, As Husbands Go is about Susie B. Anthony Rabinowitz Gersten, a woman whose husband turns up murdered in the apartment of a Manhattan call girl, stabbed in the chest with a pair of scissors.
Amy Scribner starts off her BookPage review with a compelling question:
Does anyone create more likeable characters than best-selling author Susan Isaacs?
You tell us: Enter to win As Husbands Go by leaving a message in the comments section—What book character (not necessarily written by Isaacs) is the most likeable, in your opinion?
Isaacs’ book was reviewed as part of our “Selections for the sultry season” roundup. Click here to read about other great summer books, from authors like Sharyn McCrumb and Sloane Crosley.
Beth Hoffman’s “Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt” is overflowing with characters!
This book sounds very interesting – a murder, a husband, a call girl – surely the call girl couldn’t have done it, too obvious. Will be interesting to read and see who really did it.
Horton from Horton Hears a Who!
I just finished ‘Sweet Love’ by Sarah Strohmeyer and really liked Julie Mueller, the main character. Despite the problems she had faced, she remained optimistic and was willing to try new adventures in her career and her love life. She was so realistic.
i just finished a great book titled roseflower creek..the narrator lorijean is just the sweetest little girl!
I am in the midst of reading “Grand River and Joy” by Susan Messer and find main character Harry Levine extremely likeable!
Thanks, Laurie. For reading my book and for liking Harry. I’ve had a range of responses to him. At a book event a few weeks ago, a reader was talking about him and made a hand gesture that showed she wanted to throttle him.
Alexander McCall Smith’s Precious Ramotswe is a good soul through and through. Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who… series is full of very likable characters, including the cats.
Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
I really liked the narrator from Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead – the priest – although I’ve forgotten his name.
loved the characters of dad and his little girl in the Art of Racing in the Rain…. loved this book
Julia Jarmond in Sarah’s Key is a character that recently impressed me very much. Her fortitude and strength from childhood and throughout the book was very powerful.
Loved the characters in Case Histories by Kate Atkinson!
I love Dave Robicheu (?) in James Lee Burke’s books. He is so real to me as a person.
Cornelia Brown from Love Walked by Marisa de Los Santos is one of my favorite characters. Although you have to read about half of Love Walked In before you fall in love with Cornelia, fall in love with her you will. Once finished, you can continue Cornelia’s story in Belong to Me which told an even better story than Love Walked In.
Cee Cee Honeycutt, Cee Cee’s great aunt and Oleta all from Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt were other wonderful characters.
Kinsey Millhone and Henry from Sue Grafton’s book. I want them as friends!
Rebecca Bloomwood from the Shopaholic series!! I can’t imagine a more likable (and a more relatable) character! LOVE her!!
Smithy in The Memory of Running. He found himself again through a journey across America.
So many. Precious Ramotswe, Scout,and characters from The Help and Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt. I would have loved Oleta’s wisdom while raising my children.
the three senior citizen ladies in Louise Penney’s second book, A fatal Grace. In fact, I’d like to be friends of each and every character in all of her books. ( except the murders, of course)!
Enzo from “The Art of Racing in the Rain”.
I love the character Mark in the Lumby series by Gail Fraser. He’s such a free spirit … the total opposite of his lovely wife who worries about everything!
Jimmy Tock from Dean Koontz’s Life Expectancy
I’m also partial to Scout from “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
I still think about Button Peters in The Book Of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring.
I just finished reading The Help – I loved the characters in this book.
All three main characters are so well written you can’t help falling in love with all of them.
This book sounds great. The most likeable character I’ve read recently is Aibileen from Kathryn Stockett’s “The Help”.
Wow Jenny, we were thinking the same thing at the same time
Pick just one favorite character. Hmm. That’s a tough one, plus your other comments already list many of my favorites. How about Elizabeth Bennett? I love her prickly side!
Ave Maria Mulligan from Adriana Trigiani’s Big Ston Gap series. As a Virginian from a small town (as is Ave Maria Mulligan), I can saw Adriana acurately described life in Southwest Virginia. Ave is such a warm, interesting person with so many quirks. I loved to see her age and progress during the course of this series. By far some of the best character development I have ever experienced!
I’ve always liked Anne Tyler’s characters, especially the wife in “Breathing Lessons,” exasperating as she could sometimes be, she certainly held a great deal of compassion and ultimately patience, and the title character in “The Accidental Tourist.”
Lisabeth Salander in the Steig Larsson books. She becomes more likeable and stunning with each book.
I like Alex Delaware, the psychologist in Jonathan Kellerman’s novels and Kinsey in Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries.
My favorite character in a book is Bo Hoefinger, the golden retriever.chow mix in “Bad to the Bones”. What a sense of humor, and he had unconditional love from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail.
I like kay scarpetta in Patricia Cornwell’s books.
Hi Carol…this is Bo. I just wanted to say Woof You for the nice comment. Also to let all the nice humans out there know my book is dedicated to rescue and shelter workers who make this world a better place, one animal at a time. I donate 10% of my proceeds to help homeless dogs…and cats.
To the editors of The Book Case, I’d love to do a giveaway and/or interview with you. Of course, I’m like 107 in people years so it’d have to be between naps.
Woof!
Precious Ramotswe of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, Cee Cee Honeycutt, Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie and my all time favorite Jane Austen’s memorable Elizabeth Bennett!
Jay Gatsby, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Anne from Anne of Green Gables
My all time favorite is Winnie The Pooh.
Stephanie Plum
Inspector Alan Banks in the Peter Robinson mystery series. He is smart, fair and very human, and therefore very likable.
My favorite is Dwayne Matthews of the Sunrise series by Karen Kingsbury. Though he had faults, he worked them out and became a great leading man and husband.
It’s so hard to do a “favorite” but I really liked Christopher from A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time; almost all of the characters from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society; Flavia from The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie; and especially Aurelius Love from The Thirteenth Tale (I wanted to have tea and cake with him!)
ranger and granma mazur (janet evanovich), aibileen (kathryn stockett), tom builder (ken follett)
I fell in love with the characters of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and how they were all raising Elizabeth’s child.
Dewey the small town library cat. I love that book.
Her book sounds good. I love books with some humor.
One of my favorite characters is Precious in Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. She always looks at things both with practicality and a woman’s intuition.
this book sounds interesting. I love murder/mystery
Inspector Armand Gamache from Louise Penny’s series of mystery novels detailing life and death in the small Canadian town of Three Pines.
I like Alex Cross from James Patterson series
Pat Conroy’s ‘South of Broad’!!!!
I think Stephanie Plum written by Janet Evanovich is a very likeable character.
Bella from the twilight series.
madamerkf at aol dot com
dan brown’s robert langdon
most likeable book character – The cat Oscar from Making the rounds with Oscar.
Want to be Clare Cosi~of Cleo Coyle’s The Village Coffee Shop fame!!
Dobby from the Harry Potter series!
I really liked the character Agnes Trussel from the Book of Fires by Jane Borodale.
I could really relate to Judith Singer from Susan Isaac’s Conpromising Position.
Any of the women in THE HELP !!
I love Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich).
I like Myron Bolitar in Harlan Cobens novels
kinsey milhoun from Sue Grafton’s alphabet series is my favorite!
Isabel ‘Izzy’ Spellman by Lisa Lutz. I love the entire Spellman family.
Jacob in The Twilight Series.
In the Diana Gabaldon series the character Claire is my favorite.
Aibileen is such in interesting character in The Help.
I love Father Tim from Jan Karon’s Mitford series — he is a great character.
May Dodd from ‘One Thousand White Women’ by Jim Fergus
There are so many, but I am always envious of the women in the food related mystery series that can cook, drink delicious coffee and solve mysteries.
Like Goldie in the Daine Mott Davidson series and Hannah in the Joanna Fluke series
August from the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
I love Lisbeth Salander from “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” She is strong, resourcefil and a little crazy!
This is difficult to choose only one…but the first one to come to mind is Alex Cross of the James Patterson books.
Enzo from “The Art of Racing in the Rain” – he’s a dog, how can you not like a precious dog?
Stuart Woods’ Stone Barrington, hands down.
I think one of the most memorable characters ever written is Lula, the “reformed?” prostitute from the Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels. Somehow Lula manages to be real and over-the-top at the same time. She is one of the greatest side-kicks ever written and the perfect compliment to Stephanie.
Jaime Frasier in the Diana Gabaldon series. He’s tough, tender and sexy.
Mia Lockhart Cortez from The Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert is a likeable character because she is strong but uses her powers always for good.
Jaime in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
Excellent choice!
My favorite character is Scarlett O’Hara. I first read that book in 5th grade (my mother suggested it to get me out of her hair) and I’ve reread it many times over the years. She is what all other characters ultimately boil down to.
CeeCee Honeycutt in the book Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
Pooh Bear from A House at Pooh Corner.
A classic favorite – Atticus Finch in “To Kill A Mockingbird”.
Hadassah in ‘A Voice In The Wind’ by Francine Rivers.
I think Father Tim in “The Mitford Series” is a most unforgetable character!
Little Bee in the book by the same name. Author: Chris Cleave. Great story, great character!
One of my favorite characters is Inspector Lynley from Elizabeth George’s series. He has every reason to be arrogant and superior. Yet, as another character says of him, he is extremely kind. While he has many admirable characters (and he’s very dishy), his empathy and humaneness are the most admirable.
I loved Cecelia (Cee-Cee) Honeycutt in Beth Hoffman’s book Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt–she was a very brave little girl
I like Marian Keyes’ “The Walsh Sisters”. Rachel’s Holiday, Watermelon, Angels, etc. You get to know the whole family. Each book features a different sister.
I’ve enjoyed Adam Dalgliesh in the PD James novels, and of course good old Miss Marple!
Eve Dallas
I really liked Mrs. Lovey from ” The Beach House” by Mary Alice Monroe. She was a deep and compasionate woman.
photoquest(at)bellsouth(dot)net
Both Sandra Kring (The Book of Bright Ideas and her recently released How High the Moon) and Lesley Kagan (Whistling in the Dark and her recently released Tomorrow River) both use adolescent girls to tell their stories. You’ll be delighted by their spunk!
Hi! I like Anita Blake from the Laurell K.Hamilton books. She is a strong female character that I can relate to.
There are many favorites of mine already on this list and narrowing it down to one is difficult so
14-year-old Lily Owens from Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
86-year-old Hennie Comfort from Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas
Calpurnia Tate from The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Tom Builder from the Pillars of the Earth is one of my favorite characters.
Alice from the Twilight Series!
Jack Reacher
Thanks for the giveaway >^..^<
I think Annie Darling from the Death on Demand series by Carolyn Hart is the most likeable.
Flavia de Luce of “Sweetness at the
Bottom of the Pie”–simply one of the
most endearing, devious, intelligent
and rascally characters in recent
memory.