Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. This weeks topic is Top Ten Books for people who like character driven novels. It was quite hard to pick ten as I could easily have listed more but here they are.

1. Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh – one of my all time favourite books. The characters are so vivid and it’s great hearing them talk in their own voices.
2. Talking it Over – Julian Barnes – Not my favourite Barnes (but The History of the World in 10 and a half chapters wouldn’t fit here.) but another really good use of multiple first person perspectives.
3. The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood – it’s always hard to pick an Atwood but I think the characters and plot in this one are really interesting.
4. The Slap – Christos Tsiolkas – Different third person perspectives drive the narrative here – each adds details to the overall story. Very well written and plotted. A recent favourite.
5. Gone Girl – Gillian Anderson – I must admit that I found this a little irritating but it is definitely character driven with two strong characters that are full of surprises.
6. A Perfectly Good Man – A recent favourite. Gale’s writing style is gentle, letting things unfold and characters reveal themselves.
7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky – An excellent bildungsroman with strong and believable teenage characters.
8. The Fault in Our Stars – John Green – I wasn’t always convinced by the characters but there can be no doubt that they drive the action.
9. The Hours – Michael Cunningham – The story of three women in three different ages.
10. A Boy Called Gabriel – Damian McNicholl – Another excellent coming of age story which details growing up gay in Ireland in the 1970s.