Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Characters on Screen

Posted September 6, 2016 by meezcarrie in Brian Wells, Camille Eide, Catherine West, Janice Cantore, Kristen Heitzmann, L.M. Montgomery, Lynn Austin, Melanie Dickerson, Melissa Tagg, Ron Hall, Top Ten Tuesday / 55 Comments


Top Ten Tuesday Favorite

Hi y’all! This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme (per the lovely folks at The Broke & The Bookish) is in honor of the Fall TV season being upon us. Now, I have to confess…. I started blogging right around the time we cut the cable cord to save money. Coincidence? I think not lol.  What did I do with all my sudden free time? I read. What did I do with what I read? Well, I had to blog about it, of course 😉

So, since I don’t really watch TV anymore, today’s theme stumped me for a bit. I could have done “top ten favorite TV shows of all time” but this is really a book blog and that has nothing to do with books or bookishy anything. (In case you’re wondering, though – Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Castle, Friends, Frasier, NCIS, The Big Bang Theory, Law & Order, Matlock, Perry Mason, MacGyver) “Top ten new shows coming out this Fall that are on my radar”? I don’t even KNOW what shows are coming out this Fall. So that one is clearly out. “TV shows I wish never got cancelled” – – well… see the list of my faves for most of those 10 haha. There are other great options they gave but all pretty much along these same lines.

In other words, I’m going a bit rogue this week while ultimately staying true to the heart of the theme.

Bookish TV characters

And yeah… I might have cheated (again) just a little bit and included a couple of movie characters too. Because… I couldn’t think of any more tv characters haha!

brick heck readingBrick Heck, The Middle

What Brick says about reading: I don’t play sports. I don’t exactly have a ton of friends. I have books. You don’t read. You don’t understand. You don’t know what it’s like to live in different worlds, to travel on great adventures through the galaxy with people you know better than you know your own family.

A book I would recommend for Brick: The League and the Lantern by Brian Wells

rory gilmore reading

Rory Gilmore, Gilmore Girls

What Rory says about reading: I live in two worlds. One is a world of books. I’ve been a resident of Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County, hunted the white whale aboard the Pequod, fought alongside Napoleon, sailed a raft with Huck and Jim, committed absurdities with Ignatius J. Reilly, rode a sad train with Anna Karenina and strolled down Swann’s Way.

A book I would recommend for Rory: This is a toss-up between From The Start by Melissa Tagg and The Memoir of Johnny Devine by Camille Eide. Two very different (and fabulous) books but I think Rory would enjoy both of them 🙂

alex dunphy reading

Alex Dunphy, Modern Family

What Alex says about reading: You’re never alone when you have books.

A book I would recommend for Alex: Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin

frasier crane reading

Dr. Frasier Crane, Cheers & Frasier

What Frasier says about reading: I think maybe I’ll just go sit under the shade of a tree and read in a quiet park. (Of course, you can see from the above screenshot how well that worked out for him lol)

A book I would recommend for Frasier: The Things We Knew by Catherine West

joey reading Little Women

Joey Tribbiani, Friends

Okay… so Joey isn’t technically a “bookish” character per se but the episode where he reads Little Women is one of my very favorites!

What Joey says about reading: Haven’t you ever read the same book over and over again?

A book I would recommend for Joey: Little Women – A BabyLit Playtime Primer by Jennifer Adams (Maybe this version wouldn’t be quite as traumatic for him lol)

sawyer reading

Sawyer Ford, Lost

What Sawyer says about reading: I heard once Winston Churchill read a book every night, even during the Blitz. He said it made him think better. It’s how I like to run things.

A book I would recommend for Sawyer: Devil’s Island by Ron Hall

kate beckett reading

Kate Beckett, Castle

What Kate says about reading: (said to her/about her by another character) You never told him how you stood in line for an hour just to get your book signed? How his novels got you through your mother’s death?

A book I would recommend for Kate: Three actually. The Cold Case Justice series by Janice Cantore

kathleen kelly reading

Kathleen Kelly, You’ve Got Mail

What Kathleen says about reading: When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.

A book I would recommend for Kathleen: Told You So by Kristen Heitzmann

belle reading

Belle, Beauty and the Beast

What Belle says about reading: …it’s my favorite! Far off places, daring swordfights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!

A book I would recommend for Belle: The Merchant’s Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

hermione readingHermione Granger, Harry Potter movies

these last two (Belle and Hermione) are probably completely cheating as these characters are from books to start with… but hey. At least I kept it to ten this week!

What Hermione says about reading: Honestly, am I the only person who’s ever bothered to read Hogwarts, A History?

A book I would recommend for Hermione: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

My Recommended Books From Today’s Post

What about you? What are some of your favorite bookish characters on the big or small screen?

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55 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Characters on Screen

  1. Oh man! I laughed really hard at Belle’s book recommendation Hahaha! I like this list. Rules are more like guidelines anyways…and meant to be stabbed with a spikey shoe.(PLEASE tell me you got both those references)

  2. I knew we were kindred spirits, Meez Carrie!

    I gave up TV years ago because I never had time to watch, so I’m clueless about new shows, too.

    Thank goodness for Netflix (when I have time). 😀

    Loved Castle (even though I never saw any after the first season. Loved his bullet proof vest!)

    Loved Frasier. (Still haven’t seen past Season Six.)

  3. Andrea Stephens

    This is a great post Carrie! Did you know that Emma Watson (Hermione) is playing Belle in Disney’s live-action Beauty and The Beast? I thought it was fitting that you Belle and Hermione next to each other.

  4. Way to rise to the challenge, Carrie! So creative of you. (THIS is why people should read more and watch TV less, lol). Thanks for recommending Johnny. 🙂

    Very apt recommendation for Sawyer of LOST, and may I confess I am STILL angry at the writers for the way they ended that show. Talk about captivate & string you along, make you care, and all for what?? They were all dead all along?? If the show were a book, I would have flung it against a wall. And then picked it up and finished it. Grrr… 😉

  5. I absolutely LOVE Rory’s graduation speech, especially the opening! It was so easy to identify with that when I was in high school, and it’s still one of my favorite character speeches of all time 🙂

    My TTT.

  6. Wow! What a list this week. I love that you put in what each character says about reading. Such a great idea. My first thought was “Rory Gilmore” (of course), and then I got down to Sawyer and thought, “Yes! I forgot about that.” He was an excellent choice. I love the movie characters you picked this week too. Fantastic job this week!!

  7. Pam Crist

    Don’t you just love Brick Heck?? He’s such a gem. The whole show tickles my funny bone with its down-to-earthness (not a word, I know, but it should be!)and its true-to-life depiction of family life. I love all the characters.

  8. You’ve Got Mail is one of my favorite movies. I love that quote where Kathleen says something like so much of what she sees reminds her of books she’s read when shouldn’t it be the other way around. I just love that.

  9. What a fun post! And look at all time the time, thought, and care that went into it! Getting all those movie stills into those retro TVs!

    I would recommend that Les Nessman of WKRP in Cincinnati read Let’s Learn About Turkeys by Breanne Sartori or really any book that specifics that turkeys DON’T fly.

  10. Michelle Connell

    John Boy-The Walton’s
    Laura Ingalls-Little House on the Prairie
    Snoopy-“It was a dark and stormy night.”
    Jennifer Hart-from Hart to Hart (Jennifer is an on/off journalist/writer when she’s not solving mysteries with hubby)

  11. 1) From the Start is on my TBR. I can’t wait to read it 🙂
    2) I love that Anne of Green Gables cover! One of these days I’m going to have that whole collection. 😀
    3) I did the top ten shows I wish hadn’t been cancelled, but I absolutely love how you merged reading and TV into this post!

  12. Brilliant post! Thanks for recommending Told You So to Kathleen. What a beautiful movie character she was, inside and out. Have to say I’m partial to Sawyer. Put any book in his hands and, just, yeah. I devoured Lost and Lost blogs, Lost forums … you get the picture. Biggest fail ever on the ending. I’m tempted to write my own.

  13. Hi! I love Rory Gilmore! And I also thoroughly enjoyed the episode when Joey read Little Women. Wasn’t he also the one who had to put the Steven King book in the freezer? Maybe that was Rachel… Great idea for this week’s post 🙂
    Leslie
    My TTT

  14. M

    I love this list! Belle and Kate Beckett and JOEY! Joey is my favorite character on Friends <3 And Belle is my favorite Disney princess <3 Oh – can't forget that, of course, I also love Hermione 🙂

  15. I’ve made the conscious decision not to watch much TV either, though I can’t say I’m down to zero. There are only so many hours in a day, and I’m a symphonic oboist and a writer (I think you reviewed one of my books?) On top of that, I like to read. TV had to go, and I can’t say I miss it all that much — except on a weekend like this, when I have no idea what most folks are talking about!

  16. I love that episode where Joey reads Little Women & also the one where he buys the ‘V’ encyclopedia book. He gets so invested in the things he reads. I feel like people should recommend books to him more often.

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