Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

How it works:

I assign each Tuesday a topic and then post my top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join me and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.

This weeks Top Ten – Animals from Books

1. Behemoth – The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (1967) Behemoth is a giant, demonic cat who takes pleasure in causing chaos and can take human form for short periods of time.
2. Fevvers – Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter (1984) – Fevvers is a woman with the incredible wings of a swan. Is she real though?
3. Kes – A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines (1968) – Kes is the kestrel trained by Billy Casper. The bird gives meaning to his existence inspiring love and trust in a way that Billy’s human companions cannot.
4. Algernon – Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes (1959) Algernon is a mouse who is given a treatment that makes him incredibly intelligent. Unfortunately the effects do not last.
5. Richard Parker – Life of Pi – Yann Martel (2001) Richard Parker is the Bengal tiger that Pi shares his raft with for 227 days.
6. Ghost – A Song of Ice and Fire Series – George R. R. Martin (1996-2011) – Ghost is the Direwolf of Jon Snow. One of the two direwolves to survive the series.
7. Snowball – Animal Farm – George Orwell (1945) – Rival to Napoleon whose life parallels that of Leon Trotsky.
8. Gaspode – Moving Pictures (1990), The Fifth Elephant (1999), The Truth (2000), Men at Arms (1993) – Terry Pratchett. Gaspode is one of my favourite Pratchett characters. Not only is he a talking dog but he is caught between being a dog and wanting to be loved and being human and being sarcastic about everything.
9. Pan – His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (1995-2000) – At first, Pan changes animal depending on his and Lyra’s mood but he eventually settles as a pinemarten. Who wouldn’t love to have a daemon like Pan, someone who was always there and who counterbalanced our personality?
10. Black Beauty – Anna Sewell (1877)– This was one of my favourite books when I was a child and caused me to be obsessed with horses for a while. I can still remember how upset I was when Ginger died.