(Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Crazy for Books.)
This week’s question is from Mia, who blogs at Girl About Books:
“Who is your all-time favorite book villain?”
I saw this question in my RSS feed and was intrigued, as no bad guy (or girl) came immediately to mind. Usually when I do memes like Top 10 Tuesday or Notable Quotables, it doesn’t take much time for me to come up with responses. Not so with this question, and I finally figured out why.
Most of the books I read don’t really have villains—at least not in the classic sense. In the majority of the books I read, the characters are facing situational challenges, not personified ones. They’re facing hatred or poverty or the ill effects of being jilted/discovering the man they love is unattainable, etc. And while these things are bad, they don’t really count as “villains” per se.
But after some thought, I finally remembered Acheron Hades from Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. This guy is truly evil, and he commits the atrocities he does because it’s fun. See for yourself:
“The best reason for committing loathsome and detestable acts—and let’s face it, I am considered something of an expert in this field—is purely for their own sake. Monetary gain is all very well, but it dilutes the taste of wickedness to a lower level that is obtainable by anyone with an overdeveloped sense of avarice. True and baseless evil is as rare as the purest good—and we all know how rare that is…” (The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde)
So who’s your favorite book villain? Do you read a lot of books with physical villains, or situational ones?
Hopping through. I’ve only read one Fforde book. I should read more.
My Hop
There’s always room for more Jasper Fforde, although I didn’t really like Shades of Grey. But it’s dystopian, so I’m not really surprised that it wasn’t my favorite. Thanks for hopping by!
I haven’t read the Fforde books yet, but they look clever. Being evil for the fun of it is truly villainous! I think that most of the novels I read have physical villains, although poverty and society are often something the protagonists must also fight against.
You should definitely get into the Thursday Next series. There’s also the Nursery Crime series, which is just as fantastic, although in different ways.
I wonder if the tendency to read one kind of villain or the other is similar to preferring fiction or non-fiction. Is there some internal mechanism that leads a reader down one road instead of the other? Interesting thought…
Thanks for hopping by, and enjoy your weekend!
I love this week’s question..Stopping by from the Blog Hop.
Stop by my blog for a book giveaway and to see my villain/villainess:
LITTLE PRINCES BY CONOR GRENNAN
http://silversolara.blogspot.com/
Chelsey Emmelhainz of HARPER COLLINS is graciously providing FIVE copies for five lucky winners.
Enjoy the hop!
Hi Bookzilla! I found your blog via the Book Bloggers Hop, would love a follow back ^_^ scathingweekly.blogspot.com – you can check out my favourite book villain answer 🙂
I love your “Will placing waterlogged books in the freezer fix them?” experiment. Neat trick! I’m glad someone else had the courage to do that experiment! 🙂