We Suggest: Favorite Fictional Friendships
It’s time to reminisce on all the friendships we have formed over the years: recent, long ago, real and fictional. Take some time to scroll through the staff’s favorite fictional friendships on film and on paper!
Favorite Fictional Friendships
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
This book follows Linus Baker, a caseworker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, as he investigates the well-being of the children in Marsyas Island Orphanage. This book was so fun and sweet: reading it felt like receiving a big, warm hug! I love the friendship between each of the children and their caretakers. The recently published sequel, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, was equally full of the kids’ wholesome shenanigans!
— Danielle Heiert, adult/teen services programmer
The Good Place
My favorite fictional friendships are from the TV show, The Good Place. It is a group of four friends — Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason — navigating the afterlife together. I like seeing the different dynamics between various pairings: Jason may joke and relate one way with Eleanor and a completely different way with Tahani. It’s funny, heartwarming and it shows a good display of how having different life experiences can help strengthen a bond, not destroy it.
— Tera Stadtmiller, information services assistant
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
I’ll have to go with the friendship between Gus & Woodrow in Lonesome Dove. They both have huge personalities that couldn’t be more different, but they perfectly complement each other. Together they make an iconic team, and you can imagine how they might be legends of the Old West.
— Randy Warpool, patron services assistant
Stranger Things
Steve and Dustin in Stranger Things are hilarious together. They make the whole show.
— Dakota Guilkey, information services assistant
Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd
Olive is excited to finally start attending a public middle school and make friends after being homeschooled due to a chronic condition that resulted in her having brittle bones. At school, she learns of the legend of a magical hummingbird in town that grants your heart’s deepest desire. Determined to find the bird, Olive teams up with some new and unlikely friends. They find something even more magical than the hummingbird.
— Danielle Heiert, adult/teen services programmer
Clerks
In honor of my late best friend, I have to mention that my favorite fictional friendship is Jay and Silent Bob. I was her Jay, and she was my Silent Bob. We even dressed up as them for Halloween 2007. Their energies are contrasting but complementary: they are a profanity-laden yin and yang. Jay may be the one with loud ideas, but Silent Bob is the one with sage-like wisdom. No matter how far-fetched or outrageous Jay’s antics are, Silent Bob remains a steadfast supporter. He also fiercely protects Jay and saves him from danger more often than Jay would like to admit. Like them, wherever my friend and I went you could always count on us to provide comic relief. One could say our friendship was a running gag!
— Anonymous staff member
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
One may say that Frodo and Sam have the ultimate friendship, but I would say that the fellowship is one big band of brothers. Each friendship dynamic is unique and just as endearing as the last. I won’t choose between them. The answer is all of them equally.
— Bekah Napier, branch services assistant
Emmie & Friends by Terri Libenson
The Emmie & Friends graphic novel series by Terri Libenson features some of my favorite friendships. There are nine books in the series, and each one focuses on a different character in a group of middle school friends and acquaintances. With titles like Just Jaime, Truly Tyler and Invisible Emmie, each book is set in the same middle school and features characters who pop up throughout the series. The stories tackle the complexity and intensity of middle school dynamics in a fun, playful way.
— Molly Walker, children’s services librarian
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
For my favorite fictional friendship, I would pick from a book I just read, My Friends by Fredrik Backman. The book begins by centering around a group of teenage friends in the summer and ultimately leads up to their lives as adults two decades later. I chose this friendship dynamic because, as teenagers, these kids didn’t have it easy. However, they were always there for each other and encouraged one another along the way, even into their adult lives.
— Amelia Norton, information services assistant
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission, and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except, right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. I love this book due to the fast pace, easily digestible science and fantastic friendship that develops from a common goal deep in space and far away from home.
— Clara Gerner, adult/teen services librarian
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
As they say at the beginning, “Most of what follows is true.” Paul Newman and Robert Redford play the parts of the somewhat jovial outlaws to the bitter end. Ride or die doesn’t compare to leaping off a cliff together into the Colorado River or facing hundreds of Bolivian police. Did I mention Newman and Redford?
— Toni Reinke, patron services assistant
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Crowley and Aziraphale in both the book and TV series of Good Omens! There is such a delicate balance of natural opposites, but these two do it so well and understand each other deeply, as well. It’s beautiful.
— Julie Pergrem, patron services assistant
My favorite fictional friendship is from the book Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon, have lived on Earth since its creation and have grown fond of humanity and each other, though they won’t admit it. They work together to save the Earth from the end times when Satan’s infant son is delivered to Crowley. For a story about the struggle between Heaven and Hell and the beginning of the Apocalypse, their relationship is surprisingly touching, and you can’t help but like and root for them both, especially Crowley, who fights against his nature and purpose as he works with and cares for Aziraphale.
— Chantelle Phillips, library director
Same Sun Here by Neela Vaswani and Silas House
The friendship between Meena and River is at the heart of Same Sun Here. Two children with very different backgrounds find common ground and learn from each other as they exchange letters. Made all the more interesting by the fact that each perspective is written by a different author, Same Sun Here immerses you in the everyday lives of an Appalachian middle school boy and a middle school Indian immigrant girl who recently moved to New York City’s Chinatown with her family.
— Amy Carroll, programming and community engagement manager
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