Friday, September 4, 2009

Any Other Name...

So I'm reading Fire and Hemlock (yes, yes, I know my sidebar still says Forest; I'm reading that, too—nearing the end in fact—but got distracted again), and a random, extremely minor character popped up named "Joanna."

This got me pondering some of my reading excursions when I was a kid. Which got me thinking about the random books from my childhood I read because the main character happened to have the same name as me. Which got me googling madly until I actually found said books.

So here they are:

The Best-Kept Secret, by Noela Young, in which a magic carousel ride takes Joanna seven years into the future.

The Time Tree, by Enid Richemond, in which Joanna and Rachel befriend a deaf girl from Elizabethan England.

And that's all! I remember there was a grouchy old countess named Joanna in Catherine, Called Birdy (I hated this book, not sure why; I adored Midwife's Apprentice), and of course we can't forget Joanna the lizard from The Rescuers Down Under.

Okay, that's all. This exceptionally weird post is done now. :-)

4 comments:

Anne M Leone said...

Not a book but a musical, there's a Joanna in Sweeney Todd. I happened to listen to the music lately and cannot get the friggin Joanna song out of my head!

Nice to hear from someone else obsessed with their own name, I feel less alone. =) As a kid I hated Anne of Green Gables and Orphan Annie, but as an adult I've become fascinated by all the wonderful historical figures who share my name, Anne Boleyn, Anne Hutchinson, Anne Bradstreet--there's even a pirate named Anne!

Danielle Pajak said...

*spoilers for Catherine, Called Birdy*


Haha! Catherine, Called Birdy! I didn't like that one either, though I loved Midwife's Apprentice. What I didn't like about the former was that Catherine was going to end up marrying the gross fat guy they picked for her husband. That was depressing. And then he happened to so conveniently die. Not a very good ending, even if she gets with his better and nicer son. Oh well.

Joanna Ruth Meyer said...

Anne, Oooh, a pirate?? Awesome. :-) Names are fascinating, aren't they?

SL, I think the MC in "Catherine" irritated the heck out of me as well as your aforementioned points. :-)

Ms. Pajak said...

Woot! Now that I have my account up and running again, I can really follow your blog on here. hehe! I enjoyed your 'exceptionally weird post.'
I also thought of Joanna from Sweeney Todd as well. And she's blonde, too! Did you ever hear that song from the play/film, Joanna?