Book Blogger Hop: Plot or Character? Character or Plot?

 

This week's hop question, sponsored by Crazy for Books, is a difficult one for me to answer...

What do you consider the most [sic] important in a story:

the plot or the characters?  

Though I generally don't care for dithering or wishy-washy responses, I'm afraid my answer is both.  Good plotting and good character development are both essential for me to love a book.  I may devour a book that is nothing but plot (think: The Da Vinci Code) and enjoy myself while I'm reading it, but as soon I put it down, I find it utterly forgettable.  On the other hand, emphasis on character or craft to the exclusion of plot makes for a dull reading experience for me (think of this year's Pulitzer Prize winner, Tinkers, whose prose was exquisite but otherwise left much else to be desired). I suppose if I had to say one element were more important, most of the time I'd give the edge to good characters, well developed. 

What about you?