Riot Recommendation: 15 of Your Favorite Books With Eccentric Main Characters
For fans of The Keeper of Lost Things and Evvie Drake Starts Over comes a funny and tender debut about a reclusive artist whose collection has gotten out of control—but whose unexpected friendship with a pair of new neighbors might be just what she needs to start over. Quirky and charming, big-hearted and moving, The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton proves that it’s never too late to let go of the things that don’t matter...and welcome the people who do.
One of the best parts of reading is being able to absorb yourself in someone else’s life — one that looks very different from your own. Perhaps that’s why eccentric characters in fiction are so appealing: they offer a chance to walk in the fish tank platform shoes of someone who likely makes choices you never would. Then again, if you consider yourself something of an eccentric, then reading about other weirdos (I say that with affection!) is a way to find community and to perhaps add a few more quirks to your life.
We asked you to share your favorite books with delightfully different main characters, and here are your recommendations:
Conjure Women by Afia Atakora
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Konosuba by Natsume Akatsuki and Masahito Watari
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
A Man called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
