History Main / GeniusBookClub

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyB'''s Bessie Higgenbottom brings a copy of ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' to field trips.

* Given a DoubleSubversion in ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}''. In "Doug's Brainy Buddy", it is revealed that Skeeter managed to get a perfect score on an intelligence test. Doug, skeptical that his ditzy friend could really be a genius, goes to Skeeter's house and says that geniuses, among other things, "read lots of books!" Skeeter objects, pointing out his library. Doug counters that these aren't real books (they're elementary and middle school humor fiction), until running into Immanuel Kant's ''A Critique of Pure Reason''. Skeeter proceeds to make Doug dizzy and ''fall down'' with his complex (if accurate) explanation of why Kant is so interesting.

** Parodied in "North by North Quahog", in which we find that the bookshelf of Peter Griffin, who is legally retarded, contains "two ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' books and the {{novelization}} of ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}''. In the episode "Fore Father," the same character's bookshelf only contains books about Creator/MrT including ''For the Last Time, I Am Not Mr. T'' by Creator/VingRhames.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Mother Simpson", Mona Simpson is reading Abbie Hoffman's ''Steal This Book'', while in the episode "That 90s Show," Marge Simpson is shown reading Howard Zinn's ''A People's History of the United States''. Lisa Simpson, meanwhile, has been shown reading a multitude of difficult books such as the UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson biography ''Master of the Senate'' by Robert A. Caro, indicating her advanced reading level.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' has a lot of literary influence, so it's not surprising it invokes this. Goliath is seen reading Dostoyevsky (leading Elisa to joke "Really? Who's it by?"). Also, Fox spent time in prison reading Sartre, leading to this exchange:

For bonus points, an {{Omniglot}} can read it in the original language. The more obscure the original, the more points; Sanskrit is ideal.

Related to TVGenius, specifically the tendency of average-to-dumb characters to [[ScrewLearningIHavePhlebotinum spout off a whole bunch of knowledge they never actually learned]] if they suddenly become one.

* RamaII: Guess who is the genius' favourite bard? In later books he builds a robot of Joan of Arc, too.

* On ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' Charlie Eppes is shown packing a copy of ''[[Film/LawrenceOfArabia Seven Pillars Of Wisdom]]'' to read while teaching at Cambridge.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': While there are a number of references to Honor reading for pleasure (whenever she isn't [[BeleagueredBureaucrat working her way through piles and piles of reports]]), one early book had a one-off gag of her reading ''Literature/HoratioHornblower''[[labelnote:*]][[RecycledInSpace ON EARTH[[/labelnote]] as a combination ShoutOut and MythologyGag.

* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'': [[KidHero Tamika Flynn]] and her army of [[ChildSoldier children soldiers]] all read and carry around books far beyond their reading levels. One episode has them form a book club - [[LiteralMinded by clubbing enemies with heavy books]].

* ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'': John Sessions has read more books than you, and he'll make sure you [[SophisticatedAsHell KNOW IT!!!]]

* ''Literature/TheArtOfWar'' is also seen in John Mason's collection in ''Film/TheRock''. The chapter on observing enemy behaviour would be pretty useful for a British intelligence agent.

* In the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Fanatic" Lex and Lionel are quoting ''Literature/TheArtOfWar'', a military philosophy and strategy novel by Sun Tzu. After Lex finishes his father's quote he says:

* ''Franchise/WallaceAndGromit'' tended to use this not just to show how smart Gromit is, but also as a vehicle for [[{{Pun}} Incredibly Lame Puns]].

* Subverted the "All-England Summarise Proust Competition" from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''. The competitors are unable to summarise it, and some look like they have never even read it.

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Molly can routinely be seen cheerfully plowing through stacks of books like Spenser's ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene,'' Robert Boyle's ''Occasional Reflections,'' Locke's ''Two Treatises Of Government,'' Guanzhong's ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms,'' or ''[[ComicStrip/CalvinandHobbes Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooey.]]''

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Molly can routinely be seen cheerfully plowing through stacks of books like Spenser's ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene,'' Robert Boyle's ''Occasional Reflections,'' Locke's ''Three Treatises On Government,'' Guanzhong's ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms,'' or ''[[ComicStrip/CalvinandHobbes Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooey.]]''

* MostTriumphantExample: Lex Luthor is introduced in the Alternate Continuity ''Comicbook/SupermanRedSon'' playing chess against 12 people at the same time, while reading Machiavelli's ''Il Principe'' and learning Urdu through an audio tape to which he's listening in the portable tape recorder that he designed in the washroom that morning.

* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', Kaneki is a Literature Major and it shows in his repeated references to famous Japanese and Western literature. In particular, he compares his situation to the protagonist of Creator/FranzKafka's ''Literature/TheMetamorphosis'' and later discusses the works of CarlJung. He also has a conversation with the equally well-read and brilliant Tsukiyama, concerning the work of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Anthelme_Brillat-Savarin Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin]].

Of course, it's not like all such writing [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible is completely beyond the understanding of us mere mortals]], and this trope can be well done provided that the character is, in fact, reading a specific book- and not just a classic that we can all identify as such. It can be quite informative when the book's subject matter becomes something of a plot point. Rather than simply observing the character reading the book, for example, we can watch another character ask what it is they're reading- and why.

* Tony Stonem in ''Series/{{Skins}}'' is a bit of a literature and philosophy fan, seen reading Nietzsche and Rand on separate occasions, the latter when he's still recovering from a brain injury.

* PlayedForLaughs with a sight gag in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', where a wizard in the Leaky Cauldron is reading ''[[Creator/StephenHawking ABriefHistoryOfTime]]'' - and stirring his coffee without touching the spoon.

* PlayedForLaughs with a sight gag in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', where a wizard in the Leaky Cauldron is reading ''ABriefHistoryOfTime'' - and stirring his coffee without touching the spoon.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lisareadingscientificamerican2.png]]]]

** Later on, Tosaka, of all people, [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v27/c245/5.html is seen reading]] the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Baudelaire Walter Benjamin translation of Charles Baudelaire.]]

** The perhaps most interesting (and UnintentionallyHillarious) part of her obsession with ''Wuthering Heights'' is that she is so caught up in thinking she is like Catherine Earnshaw (and Edward like Heathcliffe) that she completely forgets to even mention her name-sister, Isabella Linton, a character who resembles Bella far more.

* In the ''Series/CornerGas'' episode "Comedy Night", Lacey tries to start a literal genius book club with the other Dog River women, but their insistence on having a man join causes it to blow up in Lacey's face when the other women prefer Brent's manly novel choices (''Literature/JamesBond, ''Literature/FirstBlood'', etc) to Lacey's more intellectual ones (''Literature/LifeOfPi'', ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude'', etc). Eventually the club decides to just abandon books entirely and watch action movies instead, causing Lacey to quit in exasperation.