I thought it would be nice if you started off with Uncle Podger and Josephine March. Or, even an Oliver Twist. You need one character to make you smile (no matter how old you are) and one character to feel like his/her story was yours in writing.
Growing up, Little Women was where my heart was and Wuthering Heights was the love-story that diverted a child's mind to the exploratory regions of adolescence. Heathcliff was the man my adolescent heart yearned for - one that appealed to a girl's fantasy. Soon, that too gave way to Gone with the Wind. For me, it had always been fashionable to look down upon Mills and Boon romance stories. But, it is Jerome K Jerome that my mind turns to when I need comfort, familiarity and humor on a cold, gray afternoon.
I hope you find some characters for keeps. I know I have. These books transport me effortlessly and swiftly to my school days when the school building looked no less exciting than the first glimpse Darryl had of Malory Towers. To a time when life's simplicity was bound in white starched skirts & pigtails and sucking on honeysuckle stems. When it was all right to move your head to rippling notes played on the piano without knowing it was Fur Elise. It was OK to be who you were. One could find comfort in a sea of white starched skirts and pigtails and occasionally, hardbound library books.
