Top Ten Tuesdays are on a roll these days, with topics I adore. In line with the diversity theme, what’s the best moment in reading? Discovering a character you can relate to. For me, this is often when I find a character that loves books/words/geekiness just like I do.
These are my favourite fictional bookworms, in order of when I first met them (because I just can’t rank them!).
1. Jo March – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (free on iTunes!)
I don’t think I ever finished reading the full-length version, but I did read the abridged version as a little girl and definitely identified with Jo. I, too, used to love writing plays that my siblings and cousins had to act out.
2. Hermione Granger – Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Does she even need any introduction? Hermione was the first character that showed me that being a bookworm could be admirable, rather than embarrassing.
3. Etienne St. Clair – Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
I’m not one to swoon over literary characters based on their physical descriptions, but I really liked that St. Clair bought Anna a BOOK. And quoted Pablo Neruda. And ever since I read Anna, I’ve been wanting to read Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen (which I still haven’t, boo).
4. Alaska – Looking for Alaska by John Green
Seriously, the biggest reason I can’t wait for the movie is that I WANT TO SEE ALASKA’S BOOKS. She was a tortured character and I felt an immediate connection when I read about all her stacks of books. I have stacks of books too! But not as many as her, I’m sure.
5. Charlie – The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Charlie is so awkward, but I loved reading about him discovering the world of literature as introduced to him by his teacher, Bill. He loses some brownie points in thinking that The Catcher in the Rye is an awesome book, but oh well.
6. Liesel Meminger – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
You can’t give me a character who gets bullied for not knowing how to read, then learns how to read and falls in love with it, and NOT expect me to fall in love with her.

7. Dante – Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Although Aristotle is the one who says all the wonderful things about books and words and reading, Dante is the one who opens this world up to him. Dante’s dad is also pretty awesome and probably has a hand in his love of books!
8. Anna O’Maley – Words and their Meanings by Kate Bassett
I won’t deny that Anna irritated me a bit, if only because I had went through what she went through and dealt with it – and I was impatient for her to find her way, too. But, anyway, Anna is a talented writer and I was happy to see her rediscovering her love of words.

9. Vanessa Bell nee Woolf – Vanessa and her Sister by Priya Parmar
Is this acceptable? Vanessa Bell was a real person, but I really enjoyed her in this book, too.
10. A – Another Day by David Levithan (review up now!!)
A had me at the funny story of discovering Judy Blume’s Forever in Every Day. In Another Day, A really piles on the recommendations to Rihannon, which is awesome. I also felt really sorry for A in terms of never really being able to own books. A horrifying thing to ponder.
* * *
A special mention goes out to Matilda (Roald Dahl) and Elizabeth Wakefield (Francine Pascal) who were probably the first two bookworm characters I ever read.
Omg how could I have forgotten Liesel? ❤ her and The Book Thief 🙂 Great list!
My TTT
Yes yes yes to Jo and Hermione!! I adored Little Women. (Now I want to read it again.)
Hermione! I still want to go to Hogwarts and be her, I am in denial that I never got an acceptance letter when I turned 11 (:
This reminds me of a beautiful tweet I saw by J.K. Rowling earlier this year: “All these people saying they never got their Hogwarts letter: you got the letter. You went to Hogwarts. We were all there together.” 🙂
Great choices! 🙂 I absolutely adore Hermione and Jo and it’s great to see them pop up on so many lists.
This has got to be my favorite topic to date. So many recommendations and bookish characters. Happy reading!
https://ireadboooks.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/ten-characters-who-are-fellow-book-nerds/
I love your list! 😀 I totally forgot about Etienne, Alaska & Dante when I was trying to think of characters. So many great bookworms!
My List!
I thought about putting Charlie in my list but then I couldn’t remember if he read books or just wrote a lot. Good choice!
Check out my TTT!
I was so, so close of putting Jo March from Little Women on my list. But didn’t Great list! Some more books I need to look into. Check out mine & Happy Summer Reading!
http://wonderstruck-kcks.blogspot.com/2015/07/ten-characters-who-are-fellow-book-nerds.html
I FORGOT ABOUT ALASKA’S BOOKS!! Omg, yes, I want to see that part of the movie so so bad. I hope they make her stack of books as crazy as Pudge saw it. :’) Ohhh, and I love and admire Liesel. I, erm, never read Little Women. And Charlie. OH CHARLIE. Perks is the first book that made me cry.
Really? I have to admit that Perks didn’t make me cry… is something wrong with me?!
Liesel Meminger is definitely a favourite of mine too!! Great blog 🙂
Thanks!! 🙂