I've been thinking about this question today, though I don't know why. It's a bit like that age-old question, "who would play you in a film about your life" isn't it? (for the record, mine would be Kate Bosworth. Well, it's a given that the person who plays you has to be better looking than you really are, right? The real Erin Brockovich looks nothing like Julia Roberts, and I've seen pictures of Enid Blyton - she looked nothing like Helena Bonham-Carter, let me tell you).
But back to the "what book character..." question. I've been mentally scanning the books I've read, and as much as I'd love to resemble a tragic, beautiful heroine in the vein of Natasha Rostova or Catherine Earnshaw, the literary character I feel I most resemble is none other than (drum roll, please) Rob Fleming from 'High Fidelity'.
Not the most glamorous choice, obviously. But Rob Fleming is a man obsessed with categorisation and whose life has a soundtrack; two things I can utterly relate to (in particular the marrying of these two obsessions by organising his record collection not alphabetically, but autobiographically). I've been making 'Top Five Lists' in my head for as long as I can remember; the most bizarre one is probably 'Top Five Songs I'd Like to be Played At My Funeral', which changes on an almost weekly basis. I keep thinking I should write them down, but what if I don't update it and my mourners are treated to a Ryan Adams ballad when I'd really wanted something from 'Scrubs' (they do a good line in morbid but strangely uplifting tunes; many's a time I've watched an episode and thought "that would sound perfect at someone's funeral"). And then I worry that I might be tempting fate by 'planning' my funeral in my head so often that it might happen sooner than I'd actually like, which if it did would probably be the worst-planned funeral in history because I haven't ever written any of the details down and my family wouldn't have a clue what they are, and so I'd probably be buried and have a church service even though I'm an atheist and have a fear of possibly being buried alive.
(Ahem...)
Rob Fleming looks down on people at dinner parties for owning Tina Turner records, and as much as I endorse Duke Ellington's maxim if it sounds good, it is good... so do I - ever so slightly. Rob Fleming also has a list of his 'Top Five Episodes of 'Cheers'; I have a 'Top Five Episodes of 'Seinfeld', a programme I know inside out and am more than likely a bit overly-obsessed with. The only thing Rob Fleming and I don't have in common, aside from the obvious facts of him being a) male and b) not actually existing, is that I don't have a 'Top Five List' of ex-boyfriends. But I do have a 'Top Five First Dates' one, so that probably makes up for it.
Anyway, for posterity and utter self-indulgence, here are a couple of my 'Top Five Lists' *:
Top Five Films of All Time
5. 'Napoleon Dynamite' - just wonderfully geeky and weird. "I caught you a delicious bass" must be one of the best lines ever spoken in film.
4. 'High Society' - I first watched this as a kid with my grandparents and sisters, and just loved it. We were too young to spot the slightly (unintentional) 'inappropriate' song lyrics, which took some of the gloss off the film but I still remember it with fondness.
3. 'The Wedding Singer' - I never tire of this film; it's the visual equivalent of a bright, fizzy cocktail.
2. 'I've Loved You So Long' - this film always makes me cry buckets, but I love it anyway.
1. 'Lost in Translation' - for me, probably the most perfect film ever made.
Top Five 'Funeral' Songs
5. 'That's Life' - Frank Sinatra (a belter!)
4. 'Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole' - Martha Wainwright (brilliant in its utter inappropriate-ness)
3. 'My Brilliant Feat' - Colin Hay (because I'd like to think of my life as a 'brilliant feat' at some point. Maybe people will think that after it's finished instead?)
2. 'To a Woman in Winter' - Freddie Stevenson - actually, just anything by Freddie Stevenson
1. 'Video Killed the Radio Star' - The Buggles - because it's the first song I ever remember hearing and it seems sort of fitting!
*these lists are utterly stupid and pointless, and are subject to change completely with no notice whatsoever.
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