Six of the best depictions of shyness in fiction

At the Guardian Katy Guest tagged six top books for shy readers, including:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Shyness as a self-fulfilling prophecy is portrayed with great tenderness in the character of Boo Radley, “an unknown entity the mere description of whom was enough to make us behave for days on end”. His fear makes him hide, which makes the neighbourhood children fear him. A similar affliction befalls Christopher John Francis Boone in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, whose shyness stems from a real fear of loud noises and crowded places. For him, conquering his fears is more than a matter of just putting on a front.

Read about another entry on the list.

To Kill a Mockingbird made Jeff Somers's top ten list of fictional characters based on actual people, Carol Wall's list of five books that changed her, John Bardinelli's list of five authors who became famous after publishing a single novel and never published another one, Ellie Irving's top ten list of quiet heroes and heroines, a list of five books that changed Richelle Mead, Robert Williams's top ten list of loners in fiction, Alyssa Bereznak's top ten list of literary heroes with weird names, Louise Doughty's top ten list of courtroom dramas, Hanna McGrath's top fifteen list of epic epigraphs, the Telegraph's list of ten great meals in literature, Nicole Hill's list of fourteen characters their creators should have spared, Isla Blair's six best books list, Lauren Passell's list of ten pairs of books made better when read together, Charlie Fletcher's top ten list of adventure classics, Sheila Bair's 6 favorite books list, Kathryn Erskine's top ten list of first person narratives, Julia Donaldson's six best books list, TIME magazine's top 10 list of books you were forced to read in school, John Mullan's list of ten of the best lawyers in literature, John Cusack's list of books that made a difference to him, Lisa Scottoline's top ten list of books about justice, and Luke Leitch's list of ten literary one-hit wonders. It is one of Sanjeev Bhaskar's six best books and one of Alexandra Styron's five best stories of fathers and daughters.

--Marshal Zeringue