Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature from The Broke and the Bookish. I tend to go for “books about books” so I like this week’s topic: Ten Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds (love reading, are writers, work at a bookstore, etc.) I think I’m an easy sell for books set in a bookstore or library, and I had fun thinking of some favorite bookish characters.
Top Ten Bookish Characters:
Cath in Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell – Cath writes Simon Snow fan fiction and is quite successful at it. But a creative writing professor makes her question whether she should be writing “her own” stories instead.
Normandy in The Truth Commission by Susan Juby – Normandy and her friends form the “truth commission” to confront high school gossip head-on. This novel is setup as “creative nonfiction” as art school student Normandy writes a tell-all for a school project but struggles with the ethics of the mission, especially when it hits too close to home. I’m reading this one now and really enjoying it!
Liesel in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – Once Liesel learns to read she endeavors to read everything she can get her hands on, and deepens her connection with friend Max by reading to him aloud.
Charlie in The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky – Charlie’s teacher assigns Charlie some extra credit reading and shares all his favorite books with him, and Charlie can’t get enough of them.
Jess in Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine – In this alternate reality, the flow of knowledge is controlled by The Great Library, and it’s forbidden to personally own a book. Jess is a big reader from a family of book thieves – so is somewhat of a double agent as a Library trainee.
Simon in The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler – Simon is a Long Island librarian who receives a mysterious book inscribed with his grandmother’s name. He has to solve the mysteries of the book to break a family curse before it claims another victim.
A.J. Fikry in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin – A.J. Fikry is a bookseller whose life is changed when a baby is left abandoned with a note for him in his bookstore. This book celebrates all things books with book reviews, book clubs, and a rare book mystery!
Monsieur Perdu in The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George – Perdu prides himself on being able to get the right book in the right hands- healing others through literature from his floating bookstore on the Seine. He can’t fix his own heartbreak though, so he embarks on a journey to find out the end of his own story.
Emily in Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman – In this Middle Grade book, Emily is a big reader who loves puzzles. She just moved to San Francisco, the home of the brains behind Book Scavenger, a bookish hide and seek. The discovery of a rare book gets Emily and her new friend involved in solving a literary mystery. I just came upon this book recently and it sounds like tons of fun!
Elizabeth in The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman – This Middle Grade trilogy is centered around a magical library that houses the Grimm collection, where you can check out magical objects straight out of Grimm’s fairy tales. Elizabeth gets a job at the library and tries to solve the mystery of the missing objects. The last book in the trilogy, this fall’s The Poe Estate, centers on horror and ghost stories. Should be a fun Halloween read!
Do you like to read about bookish characters too? Let me know your favorites!
I am shocked that I haven’t seen the Storied Life of AJ FIKRY on other lists besides me and you. We rock!
http://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/07/ttt-literary-characters-who-love-books.html
Yay for AJ Fikry! I’ve seen that book around a little but I guess that one is not as popular as it should be!
I totally forgot about Charlie from Perks! I haven’t read many of the others but they look good!
Great list of characters but I think I might have picked Levi from Fangirl – I loved him!
Levi is so great – yes! He was a good appreciator of Cath’s stories come to think of it.
I feel like Charlie should have been on more lists. Great choices!
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Right? He was one of the first characters I thought of. Love your list!
Seriously, seriously, seriously, Cath! I just love her so much. I identified with her like crazy.
Those last 2 MG books sound really good!! I’m going to look into them… I’ve been reading MG to my son and he just loves it, so I’m always on the lookout for new titles 🙂 I also want to read The Truth Commission and Ink and Bone. Great List!!
The Grimm Legacy series is lots of fun for kids and adults! Hope you and your son enjoy it 🙂
I love reading books with bookworm heroes and heroines. My favorite bookworm heroine has got to be Georgina Kincaid from Richelle Mead’s Georgina Kincaid series. She works in a bookstore too! AND her favorite author/person she has a crush on is completely adorable. Such a great series!!
Can’t believe I forgot about Georgina! I still miss that series- glad you remembered it 🙂
I have the little Paris Bookshop and the book of speculation on the very top of my to buy list and seeing them here reminded me that i should really buy them, soon.
I also wrote down a few others from you list that i want to remember to thank you for the recommendations.
Fantastic List 🙂
I loved The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry! Great choice! I still need to write a review for that book.