Character Study

Why do we read? When I was young, I thought I liked stories for their plots. The books that caught my attention in the library or bookstore usually had a dragon, horse, or sword-wielder on the cover, promising hair-raising battles and edge of seat adventures. Give me Dragonflight or Lord of the Rings, Treasure Island or the Black Stallion. Nothing would raise my gag reflex so fast as the suggestion from a teacher or librarian that I might try a book with an “interesting” character whose problems I could “relate to.” Or so I thought.

I thought I needed dragons or battles or at least horses to enjoy a book, yet at the same time I read and reread plenty of novels without them. There were the books with an ordinary bully instead of a dark overlord for a villain (Nellie Oleson vs Sauron), and there were even books…