You have both mentioned my very favorite books. I'll never forget the joy Pride and Prejudice gave me when I read it for the first time. I adored it, and immediately read it again. And The Once and Future King I read over and over. Oddly, I only made it through The Lord of the Rings once, although I enjoyed it very much.

Another one I read over and over is Huckleberry Finn. And I cannot forget George Eliot's Silas Marner.

My favorite character of all time? Lancelot from The Once and Future King. (Although Pellinore from the same book comes in as a close second.) Other favorites are D’Artagnan, Jean Valjean, Nell, Ayla (in the earlier books--incidentally I HATED Jondalar. He belongs in the same class as Angel from TESS), Paksenarrion (from a fantasy series), Samwise Gamgee (the true hero of LOTR, in my opinion) and the Tinman.