Booking through Thursday - quirky

This week’s question is suggested by (blogless) JMutford:

Sometimes I find eccentric characters quirky and fun, other times I find them too unbelievable and annoying. What are some of the more outrageous characters you’ve read, and how do you feel about them?

I think my previous responses to BTT might, in passing, have indicated a liking for books full of quirky characters, particularly the kind who might be described as "English eccentrics". Favourites would range from E.F. Benson's wonderful Lucia to Dirk Gently, owner of a "holistic" detective agency.

Conscious that I have never entirely "fitted in", my predilections tend towards misfits and outsiders, though I much prefer harmless eccentrics to psychopaths. A new favourite is Usagi Yojimbo, a Samurai rabbit and ronin (lordless warrior) striving to make his way in the early days of the Shogunate. Not exactly Watership Down!

Finding a character unbelievable or annoying is enough to make me abandon a book and, I have to admit, when I give up on a book, I pretty much erase it from memory. But I'm sure other people's answers will remind me of characters I've loathed.