The best eclectic list of books with extremely engaging characters

As a counselor, I worked with kids on the spectrum, and I grew to love them. This is a mystery novel told in first person by Christopher, who is on the spectrum. I found him to be such an engaging character and his narration unfolds in ways that are surprising, revealing, touching, and Christopher’s life on the spectrum provides inadvertent revelations as he pursues the mystery of the dead dog in the front yard.

It’s Christopher’s character, his persistence, the way he continues to engage people in a world that sometimes confounds him, and a character that seems completely real that pulled me through the book.

If there’s a book series that is comfort food for my mind, this is it. I loved reading about the life of the main character, James Herriot, and his veterinary colleagues, who read as real in part because they were based on real-life counterparts; the characters in this series seem like they’ve stepped off the pages.

Every time I opened one of the books, I stepped into Darrowby and the Yorkshire Dales. From page to screen, I also cared about these characters because I knew what they didn’t: World War II was just over the horizon.

Having worked with kids from families with huge challenges, I love a hero who struggles because life is an uphill battle for them; it’s someone I root for. I enjoy well-written sci-fi and fantasy, and I’m a romantic, so I read this story non-stop; it’s full of political intrigue and dragon riding.

The star of the series is Violet Sorrengail. I rooted for this flawed hero; she’s barely strong enough for the physical challenges involved with dragon riding. I love her independent, feisty—in the best of ways—spirit. She challenges her self-doubt and is such an inspiring, well-drawn character that young women at book events dress like her. Her enemy/protector/instructor/lover (so … it’s complicated!) Xaden and the dragon, Tairn, who finally accepts her as a rider, are also so well drawn that they seem real.

A great read … one word of caution for some. The physical relationship between Violet and Xaden is very specific and spicy.

Every now and then, I discover a book that has imagined a world and/or a character that takes me by surprise, and I can’t stop reading about them. Again, it’s all about character! In this book, I met a human cyborg enslaved by a computer program and built as a security unit rented out to corporate groups exploring planets for profit.

This sentient cyborg frees itself from enslavement, hilariously staves off the boredom of security work by watching its favorite media series, and as it watches characters in these shows, begins to learn about human behavior. I enjoyed the awkward, touching way it developed friendships and emotional connections. The character, which calls itself Murderbot, presents as if it’s on the spectrum.

Its first-person narration is snarky, occasionally hilarious, and endearing as it slowly learns what it means to have friendships. And oh, it finds all this wildly inconvenient, hates eye contact, and shakes its head in resignation when humans do stupid. A unique character I’d love to have as a friend, hoping Murderbot didn’t find me inconvenient or stupid.

Have you ever read a book that grabbed you with a character challenged by circumstances you’d never considered? Imagine being blind and trying to survive WWII! I was intrigued by this essentially two-person novel set during World War II, which had a ‘cast’ of millions.

Again, the characters! Marie-Laure LaBlanc is a young blind French woman hiding in her great-uncle’s house in Saint-Malo after the Nazis invade Paris. I found Doerr’s lyrical sensory descriptions of Marie-Laure’s efforts to make her way around town as she’s pulled into the French resistance thrilling. I loved the depth of characterization when I met the second main character, Werner Pfennig, a radio repair savant, and his journey from a Nazi soldier tracking down illicit resistance radio operators to a young man repulsed by the Nazi brutalization of civilians.

The characters and intrigue pulled me through this book; mixed in with the eventual connection of the two main characters is the search for a gem, the Sea of Flames said to grant both immortality and misery.