Why would you like to talk with a character from an impressive novel?
They would not keep looking at their cellphone during the conversation.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
• I’d like to ask the Cheeryble Brothers (Nicholas Nickleby) what the Dickens makes them so cheerful.
David Isaacs, Sydney, NSW, Australia
• A word with Alexander Portnoy (Portnoy’s Complaint), and warn him if he continued doing that he could go blind.
Rhys Winterburn, Perth, Western Australia
• I would quite like to shake Scarlett O’Hara (Gone With the Wind) and tell her to grow up.
Jenefer Warwick James, Paddington, NSW, Australia
• With the obvious disdain that he shows towards his wife, it would be interesting to hear from Mr Bennet of Pride and Prejudice whether his was an arranged marriage. If not, some enlightenment about the circumstances, please.
Anthony Walter, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• I’d like to ask AA Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, from The House at Pooh Corner, which pooh sticks swim fastest.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• I can identify a fairly long list of characters who either need some sense knocked into them or are deserving of a swift kick. Apparently reading allows me to express my violent tendencies, and talking doesn’t come into it at all.
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Anonymous, lens-free living
What are the perks of being a nobody?
A life without paparazzi, photo-bombing, Instagram and nameless social media implications. A life in fact.
E Slack, L’Isle Jourdain, France
• You can be yourself.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• Everybody has low expectations of you.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• Nobody minds if you’re being too perky.
Tijne Schols, The Hague, The Netherlands
• Knowing that your friends value you for your qualities rather than your status, and being able to go to the local shops in your daggy jeans and crumpled shirt.
Chris Stevenson, Sydney, NSW, Australia
• Why are you asking us?
Avril Taylor, Dundas, Ontario, Canada
• You don’t get eaten by the Cyclops.
Nick Stanley, Cheltenham, UK
• Everybody leaves you alone.
Catherine Andreadis, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• Nobody is looking for you to screw up.
Charlie Bamforth, Davis, California, US
• No one cares what you think or say and you can think and say what you believe.
Pat Phillips, Adelaide, South Australia
• As WS Gilbert (Gilbert and Sullivan) said in The Gondoliers, “When everyone is somebody, then no one’s anybody.”
John Ralston, Mountain View, California, US
• Privacy above all – but also, if you so chose, the challenge of striving to achieve status as a somebody.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
Any answers?
Just what does it take to make a bug cute?
R M Fransson, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
Can there be love without sacrifice?
John Geffroy, Las Vegas, New Mexico, US
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com
