Yoinks! I (Almost) Did It Again!

Lateness
Inexcusable.

Favorite "A-List" Character/Author
This was super difficult! Crime and Punishment is what immediately came to mind, but I am torn between picking Dostoevsky as the author or Raskolnikov as the character! The character could not exist without the author and I do like Fyodor's other works (Brothers K being in a definite top 20)...still, I'm going with Raskolnikov, favorite character.

Possible Reasons Why
1. Raskolnikov's testimony (unresolved as it is) is the answer to all theodicy questions. Christian life is about owning the guilt we DO have and releasing the burdens we shouldn't carry. That is a more specific reiteration of a general theme I seem to be drawn to: the greatest punishment being when one is NOT held accountable (this used to make grace seem very wrong to me until I realized that grace is wrapped up in repentence and perpetuation of itself and in these ways is not purely a "get out of jail free" card).
2. I was never "required" to read this book. This isn't entirely what it may appear (many of my favorite books were read in school settings), but there is something to this. Maybe a level of ownership is involved?
3. Great name to say out loud. The same sound can connote dark depths of madness as well as tremedous freedom from fears.
4. The fact that I can love someone like Raskolnikov makes me want to love him all the more.

Favorite "non-A-list" author/character
This was a cinch! Easy! No problem! Favorite author: Gordon Korman and I'm talking about his classics here not this new Kidnapped series or whatever. Let's talk about Son of Interflux, My Semester in the Life of A Garbage Bag, Don't Care High, even the more recent, No More Dead Dogs.

Why?
1. His books are hysterical! Laugh out loud funny! Joy unspeakable!
2. Did I mention how funny I find these books?
3. Character development is fabulous! He always starts with the perfectly plausible except that one (or more) characters will have some kind of personality quirk (No More Dead Dogs features a protagonist who will not lie for any reason). The reactions and responses to this quirk will escalate into some grand scale comedy of unbelieveable proportions. I don't know how to describe it.
4. Read it and see!