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Yomiko Readman picks up some light reading.

"To me, the poems in the books my mother had inherited were an escape: They spoke of wilder worlds than any comic book or movie could evoke. They seemed to burn with color."

A character who just loves to read and collect books. They tend to be smarter, nerdier, and more into school than other characters, but some book enthusiasts are of average intelligence. They tend to wear glasses and often have few interests other than reading. Expect them to put off doing chores or outings with friends to read, or for them to have few friends because they ignore or avoid others so they can sit down in a secluded area and indulge in reading. They often carry one or more books with them, have many bookshelves at home, and books are often scattered around their house. If wealthy, they may have a home library. Favorite haunts are new bookstores, used booksellers, and public libraries. May be in a Genius Book Club.

Possesses the Charles Atlas Superpower of being able to not only read and walk at the same time but to read and navigate through a maze of disaster and mayhem (car wrecks, floods, runaway rabid dogs, the debris of a Chase Scene such as a flying Fruit Cart, falling meteors) without a scratch. The character will also likely possess Encyclopaedic Knowledge thanks to reading anything and everything.

Intellectual types (such as The Smart Guy or The Professor) are likely into high-brow academic literature and scholarly works, especially older works. They are likely to analyze the novels' Lit. Class Tropes in a pedantic and show-off-ish way. Young characters may have the same bent if they're nerdy, but just as likely, they may love popular escapist fiction like trashy romances and thriller potboilers that intellectuals would sneer at.

This is often very Truth in Television. You yourself probably knew at least one. Or are one. Technology is marching on, with smartphones and tablets being used more and more for distribution, and libraries and bookstores becoming rarer entities, we will see if in the future these people use physical paper books in Real Life.

Frequently espouse a Reading Is Cool attitude. Probably favors book versions in the Books vs. Screens debates. Contrast with Hates Reading.

Not to be confused with a game of the same name.

Often the victim of a Useful Book gag but, sadly, not of a Portal Book plot.

Sub Tropes:


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Shindou Manabe from Amano Megumi wa Sukidarake! does nothing but study very hard to get into a great university. Too bad his childhood friend, Megumi Amano keeps distracting him, much to his frustration!
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Deserted Island Diary: Of the main human quartet, Benben is this. In many of his scenes, he can be seen reading a book, often reciting what he is reading out loud.
  • Sheska from Fullmetal Alchemist likes reading pretty much anything for the sake of reading. Including cookbooks. Although actually getting called a bookworm by Hughes's daughter upsets her, oddly.
  • Kawai Ritsu of The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior spends almost all her free time reading, ignoring things like classmates, traffic signals, and flashers.
  • Vio, Link's "smart side" from the Legend of Zelda: Four Swords+ manga. He also is something of a Badass Bookworm because he's strong and skilled enough to beat the "original" green Link in a sparring match.
  • Vivio Takamachi of Lyrical Nanoha, which is the reason why she became a title librarian of the Infinity Library even though she's still in grade school.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • Nodoka, to the point that she has the nickname "Honya", (Japanese for "bookshop"). And indeed, she works in a library and can often be seen carrying enormous stacks of books around.
    • Also Yue. Funnily enough, while she loves reading, she hates studying, or at least, studying that doesn't involve magic.
  • Yomiko Readman of Read or Die provides the page image. She has a drug-like addiction to reading, and her apartment is literally packed wall-to-wall (and floor) with books. Give her a book and she'll be lost in her own little world. There's a famous moment in the OVA where she's so engrossed in a book that she ignores an explosion feet away from her.
  • And (two of) the three Paper Sisters from the (same universe, but not a sequel) Read Or Dream series are the same way. If all three were, their knee-jerk response to the commonly presented choice of "buy books or buy food" might be less comedic...
  • Ami Mizuno from Sailor Moon fits this trope very well. She often spends time reading books and she is also extremely intelligent.
  • Both Takano Masamune and Onodera Ritsu of Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi used to read books in the library to pass the time as school children and grow up to be editors.
  • Lucy (abbrv) in Servant × Service. Her mother warned her about neglecting daily life in favor of books, and a conversation with Saya revealed that she pursued a 2-year college term so she can immediately find work and earn money to buy more books. Personality-wise she sits somewhere between Cute Bookworm and Hot Librarian; she's already a young adult (20), looks like a Hot Librarian, and is hardly a Shrinking Violet, but she is very naive, especially on sexual matters.
  • The title character from Snow White with the Red Hair loves reading and books. While most of her reading in the series is on pharmaceutical research and herbalist plant uses she's also noted to just enjoy reading and when she moves into the castle one of the first things Zen points out for her is the shortest route to the nearest library which he promises she'll enjoy due to its varied and large selection.
  • Tokyo Ghoul: Kaneki, Rize, Hinami, Tsukiyama, and Eto (Sen Takatsuki). The first three are fans of Takatsuki, Tsukiyama likes elegant and interesting reads most notably books about gourmet food, and Eto and Kaneki are shown in the calendar to bemoan not having anybody to talk with about books. Kaneki tries to cope by keeping his nose buried in books.
  • In Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches:
    • Shiraishi is shown reading books nigh-constantly, though she becomes a bit more social with time, especially after becoming Yamada's girlfriend. She almost solely reads textbooks and reference works, though when Yamada starts reading a Light Novel series, Shiraishi also starts reading the series to bond with him.
    • Tamaki loves light novels (he is in the fact the one who recommended the series that both Yamada and Shiraishi start reading) and is frequently seen with one in his hands. He often hangs out at the school library and states he spent most of his winter break at the public library.

    Comic Books 
  • The DCU:
    • Batman:
      • As a child, Jason Todd was an avid reader, and even as a homeless orphan before being taken in by Bruce most of his belongings were his treasured books.
      • In several versions of the Scarecrow's backstory, he would rather have a new book to read than new clothes, to the point his colleagues called him "Scarecrow Crane" because of his raggedy suits. The 2005 Scarecrow: Year One miniseries ups it even more: as a child, Jonathan Crane was threatened by bullies when he was just trying to read. One of them holds up a match and makes him choose: him or the book. He chooses to spare the book.
    • Young Diana: Clio is an Amazon scribe, who prefers the quiet nature of working in Themyscira's library. Diana notes she rarely sees her at any of Themyscira's outdoor activities or contests.
  • Jax Epoch in Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden loves to read books as a way of escape from her boring life.
  • Marvel Universe:
    • Would you believe that Frank Castle aka The Punisher was one of these as a child? The one-shot story The Tyger depicts him as a quiet yet bright child who preferred spending the Summer immersing himself in countless books over playing outside. Favoring poems in particular, to the point that he took an extracurricular poetry class with older kids. Today, of course, he mostly reads gun magazines.
  • Harry Vanderspeigle, protagonist of Resident Alien, is a huge one, especially since books comprise a great majority of his belongings.
  • The UK comic Whizzer and Chips featured a character called Bookworm, who had various adventures based on solving problems with books, trying to get peace to read, or taking what he read too seriously.

    Comic Strips 
  • Goat from Pearls Before Swine is often seen reading while hanging out with Pig and Rat.
  • Hollyhock in Priscilla's Pop likes reading books, visiting the library, and sharing facts with Priscilla. Her foe Stuart often disagrees with these facts.

    Eastern Animation 
  • In an episode of the Czech animated series Staflik And Spagetka, one of the dog protagonists is made into a complete Bookworm by a particularly fascinating book, filling the trope to a T.

    Fan Works 
  • Princess Zelda in The Arrangement is fond of reading. She's even reading when she meets her future husband Ganondorf as a child.
  • A Diplomatic Visit: Twilight Sparkle, hands-down, is one of the biggest in canon and here. In the sequel Diplomat at Large, she refers to a lawbook dating back to over a thousand years ago as "a little light bedtime reading", which amuses Luna when she hears it.
  • Dungeon Keeper Ami: Ami is called one by the Avatar because what she mainly does is research.
  • Harry Is a Dragon, and That's OK and he's classified as a "Black-Backed Bookwyrm". His chosen hoard is a pile of books and letters, and he's constantly on the lookout for new fantasy novels, especially ones containing dragons.
  • Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: Japan is very smart and happens to have quite the interest in both literature and manga among other things as pointed out by Italy.
  • Mr and Mrs Gold: Rose is proven to be as much of a reader as Belle, having read through Ruby's copy of Fifty Shades of Grey in less than a day and turning their garage into their own personal library.
  • OSMU: Fanfiction Friction: Oswald and Octavius, just as in canon. Oswald was an agent of the Library department as a "library-museum person", while Octavius is still in the department, so loving books is a natural given for them. In Chapter 17, Oswald arrives at a bookstore called The Book Loft that has thirty-two rooms of books and is completely ecstatic. He buys an entire large bin of books, enough to where Opal is surprised the store has any still left, and calls it reading for two entire weeks.
  • In To a Merry Christmas, both Aurora and Belle are fond of books. Aurora spent her childhood reading because there's only so much for a child to do alone in the forest.

    Films — Animation 
  • Barbie movies:
    • In Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses, reading is Princess Courtney's favorite activity. A Running Gag has her accidentally walking into things or being otherwise unaware of her surroundings because she's so invested in her book.
    • Mariposa and Prince Carlos from Barbie: Mariposa like reading. They even meet because they bump into each other while reading the same book and not looking where they're going. Mariposa says she's "perfectly happy spending whole days lost in books." Mariposa's friend Catania also loves books, and they share the same favorite, Flight of Fancy.
    • In Barbie and the Secret Door, Princess Alexa loves books and would rather read than socialize.
  • Beauty and the Beast: Belle is introduced returning a book to the shop and then immediately borrowing another one that she'd already read twice before; when she explains that this particular book is her favorite, the shop owner simply lets her keep it. It's implied that she's already read every book in there at least once. And she starts reading the book as soon as she leaves the shop, oblivious (or perhaps just not caring) to the townsfolk who gossip about her "strange" love of reading. This is referenced in Kingdom Hearts. Other than Kairi, Belle is the only Princess of Heart who is not found in Hollow Bastion's chapel after the opening of the final keyhole. Instead, you find her in the library. It seems that the literal first thing she does after waking up from what is implied to be years of coma is to search for books.
  • Maria Posada from The Book of Life, is said to read for fun. She's looked down upon by others because they don't think that's normal.
  • Rapunzel, from Tangled and at a pace of up to 6 books daily. The audience might think that this pace comes from the fact that she only owns three books, at least until they see that shot where she's turned loose in a library...

    Films — Live-Action 
  • The Banshees of Inisherin: Siobhan is one of the most intellectual women on Inisherin. She has a pointed love of reading and is seen reading books in several scenes. She is able to utilize this to leave the island for a librarian job on the mainland, only upset that she can't take her books with her.
  • In Brotherhood of the Wolf, Marquis d'Apcher (his first name is Thomas) is a self-proclaimed bookworm (but he also likes to read other things than books, magazines about the theatre scene in Paris, for example).
  • Danielle from Ever After is this; her favorite book appears to be Thomas More's Utopia.
  • Grandmother's Farm: Abdullah is reading a book on his tablet in most of his scenes. It mainly seems to be a story about people in a castle.
  • Marvin's Room: Charlie is shown reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea throughout the movie.
  • Karol Wjotyla in Pope John Paul II, who reads poetry during his breaks working in a rock quarry.

    Literature 
  • 2666: All of the critics made their careers out of it. Lalo proves to be studious as well.
  • The titular character of Arthur was a Book Worm to a tee (He even wears glasses!), but pretty much all of the kids loved to read.
  • Sophie from Child of the Hive spends a good portion of her time reading and, when not reading, tends to compare herself to characters from literature.
  • Hermione Granger from Harry Potter considers a book heavier than her skull to be "a bit of light reading".
  • Yuki Nagato from Haruhi Suzumiya seems addicted to books. In the light novels, Kyon wonders what would happen if she wasn't allowed to read.
    • The books may actually be a way to make her less noticeable or give an excuse for her utter lack of apparent emotion - she was originally created to be a wallflower who would observe Haruhi's actions from afar, but accidentally wound up being a close friend of hers. Yuki literally sat in her apartment doing nothing with her life, waiting to go to the same school as Haruhi until high school, so presumably she can patiently wait for years doing nothing.
    • In the anime of Remote Island Syndrome, Yuki demonstrates her Charles Atlas Superpower by reading while waterskiing.
  • The main character in Finding Snowflakes is almost never seen without a book in hand. It is implied he reads to avoid facing his own loneliness.
  • Yukino Yukinoshita from My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU is usually reading in the club room if left to her own devices.
  • No Game No Life: This is the Flugel's hat. They don't care about gambling for territory or resources and only puruse books. It's possible to make them drool and bet their freedom if tempted with sufficient quantities of books.
  • Expect at least one of these showing up in a Jane Austen novel:
    • Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey. She enjoys especially Gothic novels, which is a current craze in literature. Her love interest Henry Tilney is an avid reader as well.
    • Pride and Prejudice:
      • Mr. Bennet loves books and reading and the library in his house is his sanctuary.
      • Elizabeth Bennet is a great reader. She said they were encouraged to read from childhood.
      • Mary Bennet reads a lot and is known to make notes very diligently. However, she's an example of the less intelligent Bookworm.
      • Mr. Darcy is a Bookworm and very serious about books. He insists that a proper and accomplished lady must have a mind improved by extensive reading, and surely he would not allow a gentleman to be less educated. He also takes exemplary care of their family library which is a work of several generations.
    • The Dashwood ladies in Sense and Sensibility are the most studious family in Jane Austen's 'verse. Especially Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor, and Marianne are great readers, and young Margaret is forced to study more. Marianne has a great passion and special love for poetry. Edward Ferrars even jokes that she would love to buy all the books — and he means all the copies — because they might fall into unworthy hands.
    • Persuasion:
      • Captain Benwick is a clever and reading man, as Captain Wentworth says. He has a nice collection of pretty volumes, and he enjoys talking to Anne about books. He's particularly fond of poems.
      • Lady Russell is obsessed with literature and new books. She sends books worthy to be read to her friends who do not always appreciate her enthusiasm. Charles Musgrove thinks Lady Russell and Captain Benwick might bond over their mutual passion.
  • Klaus in A Series of Unfortunate Events loves to read. Not just to read, but to research, which often comes in handy because his Encyclopaedic Knowledge, combined with Violet's ability to improvise inventions and Sunny's teeth (both of whom are themselves far from strangers to Klaus' habit), allows them to escape from Count Olaf's clutches.
  • This Side of Paradise: Amory Blaine has always dabbled in literature as a hobby, having read many books and prefers studying literature over math.
  • Lori Shepherd from the Aunt Dimity series. She has some expertise in rare books and used to work for an academic expert. She is often drawn to the libraries in houses where she is staying. She is even asked to assess the books in an old house in Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire has a number of characters who love to read, including Tyrion, Rodrik the Reader whose exclusive characteristic is reading, and so on. But none are more bookish than Samwell Tarly, whose love of books overshadows even his love of pork. When ordered to do some research, he spends days in the library without leaving, always telling himself, "Just one more book and I'll stop."
  • Tash Arranda of Galaxy of Fear has shades of this... when the books are about Jedi. Most of the stories she finds about them are found on the Holonet, or Star Wars Internet. They're not paper books, such artifacts being obsolete and almost unheard of, but she mentions that she'd read half the library back home.
  • Martha Abbott in Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Changeling is a shy, unattractive "mouse" and a definite bookworm, probably learning to read many years before starting school.
  • Jo Walton's Among Others is a book about books. Narrator Mori Phelps is obsessed with books, especially fantasy and science fiction. They are her lifeline after the horrific tragedy that killed her twin and left her crippled for life.
  • Alex Aruda who appears in two of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. This kid is such a bookworm that he borrowed the teacher's personal dictionary to study for an upcoming spelling bee, in which the teacher furious that her book was "Stolen" had given all the kids detention until it is returned. The kids desperate for help went to Alex who not only admitted had the book but was so focused on reading it that he never even noticed what had been going on the whole time (Note: This lasted for about three days)
  • The The Mysterious Benedict Society series has Reynie, Sticky, and Mr. Benedict. Reynie is just as much a voracious reader as the other two but doesn't possess their eidetic memory, and thus, while being a reasonably fast and studious reader, can't process books nearly as fast as the other two, much to his disappointment. As a child, Mr. Benedict loved reading, but had access to few books, and was mostly left to scrounge for newspapers. Simply reading a dictionary was for him a real treat. When he moved to a new orphanage, his delight at discovering it had a massive library was matched only by his bitterness and disappointment that only a very limited amount of free time was allowed each day for reading and that he couldn't get permission to borrow books to take up to his room. He eventually discovered that the library was the treasure of the wife of the former owner of the manor that became the orphanage, and managed to negotiate a deal to be allowed to read as much as he wanted.
  • M. Mabeuf of Les Misérables is described as "not a monarchist, a constitutionalist, an anarchist, but an old-booksist". When he loses his source of income, he sells his books one by one and eventually goes to the barricades and is martyred for the revolution.
  • Jane Eyre: Jane keeps mentioning throughout her narration her love for books and reading. At the beginning of the novel, it was her escape to happier thoughts.
  • The Clerk from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales fits this trope perfectly, making it (just about) Older Than Print. He is described as being 'thredbare' and 'nat right fat' because he spends all his money 'on bookes and on lernynge.'
  • Played with by Susan Sto Helit in Soul Music who enjoys reading about logic and other sensible things.
    Susan didn't see the point in literature. She'd rather read a good book.
  • Journey to Chaos:
    • After arriving in Roalt during the events of A Mage's Power, Eric spent nine days in the public library. Because of its cafe, he didn't have to leave once in that time.
    • Annala's study abroad home is in a library and she takes full advantage of this fact.
  • MARZENA: Lauren being an introverted girl who never goes outside, it's no surprise to find her checking out the ebooks available on the Intranet server of her new workplace, especially when it's about topics on brains, Lauren knows everything there is to know about brains and psychology. Lauren still has to read the Transhuman Seeder though, maybe she should start with Outlast the Machine?
  • Tris from the Circle of Magic series, though she tends to read more non-fiction than fiction books. Of her friends, Briar (whom she taught to read) is the only one that comes close to enjoying reading as much as her, and her primary teacher, Niko, is also something of a bookworm.
  • Anne in Anne of Green Gables. At first, this was a form of escapism from a difficult life as a foster child. She later channeled that interest into teaching and writing; the movie version of Anne of Avonlea specifically has her teaching English and literature in a private secondary school.
  • Sara Crewe of A Little Princess is said to love books. In fact, when her father dies and she becomes a servant at Miss Minchin's Seminary, she is highly concerned about continuing her education and is thrilled to get to read whenever she can.
  • Frozen (2013) tie-ins:
    • The children's book A Sister More Like Me, describes Elsa as a bookworm and diligent student. This wasn't included in the film itself but was also referenced in a Cut Song "More Than Just A Spare".
    • In A Frozen Heart, Hans describes his older brother Lars as an avid historian who is deep into cartography and would oftentimes lose track of time whenever he goes off-topic. While others find Lars's interest boring, Hans is the only one in the Westergaard clan to find it quite interesting, and Lars teaches Hans more about the kingdom of Arendelle.
  • Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan from The Help. She's also an aspiring writer whose book becomes a bestseller.
  • Madeline from Everything, Everything is confined to her house and hasn't got anything much to do but read.
  • Francie in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has been reading one page of The Bible and Complete Works of William Shakespeare every night — based on her grandma's advice to her mother before she was even born. Later, she attempts to methodically read every book in the public library so she can know everything in the world.
  • Jane in The Moffats also tries to read every book in the library. Sylvie and Joey are diehard readers too, inspiring five-year-old Rufus to apply for his very own library card in Rufus M. It reads as a classic Hero's Journey (although the author probably didn't intend it this way).
  • Starflight from Wings of Fire is The Smart Guy who enjoys reading and studying scrolls.
  • Seika in Princess Holy Aura, when first encountered had a huge stack of books beside her.
  • The Wicked Years:
    • "Ozma" is a title given to a lineage of rulers. One of them was a bookworm, dubbed "Ozma the Librarian", who reportedly spent her life doing little but studying genealogies.
    • Elphaba from Wicked was known at Shiz University for being seldom seen without a book in hand.
  • Guardian Cats and the Lost Books of Alexandria:
    • The book is about a cat named Marco who gains the ability to read. He becomes instantly addicted to reading. Marco is especially fond of adventure stories as he likes to put himself in the character's shoes.
    • The Dead Cats Society is a group for cats who know how to read and enjoy reading. They can discuss works together and pass on their knowledge to other cats.
    • Subverted with Professor Chin. He reads books often, but not because he's a bibliophile. He only uses them as a means to an end.
  • The Lost Redeemer: Nahlia loves to read. She starts out as a librarian’s apprentice and then goes on to learn magic from books since few living people believe in it.
  • Peashooter from The Tribe is stated to be quite into reading. He often quotes some of his favourite books.
  • Both Azrael and Bernadette in Dragon and Damsel are this. They actually bond a lot over their shared love of reading.
  • Monster of the Month Club: Icicle, the January Selection, spends most of his time reading in his corner of Rilla's room, usually books with monsters in them (such as Beowulf, Frankenstein and Where the Wild Things Are). Sweetie Pie largely prefers to be read to instead (her favorite book is Pinkerton).
  • Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating: Ishu is a huge book lover, with reading as her hobby when not studying until meeting Hani and dating her, when she starts doing more.
  • Retired Witches Mysteries: Dorothy Dunst, who's a librarian and freezes up in sheer delight when she sees the Grand Council's library, the largest library in the world, in book 3.
  • the secret lives of Princesses: Princess Paige is in her library whenever possible. She reads everything she can find.
  • Maddy's Dolphin: Maddy and CJ's mother Ishbel loves reading. When she's engrossed in a book or magazine, she becomes totally oblivious to the outside world, which is convenient when her kids want to do something they know she'd disapprove of.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In one episode of Family Matters, Grandma Winslow tells Laura she loved to read when she was little, but couldn't visit the local library because it was for whites only. She goes on to say she walked to the library every day for six months, was thrown out, and endured racist actions until the librarian gave up and handed her a card.
  • Game of Thrones universe:
    • Game of Thrones:
      • Tyrion claims, "My brother has his sword and I have my mind," though he proves no slouch with an axe himself.
      • Sam always wanted to be a wizard, prefers being a steward, and uses "I read it in a book" as his catchphrase.
      • When Davos refuses the book she offers him, Shireen gives a look that screams, "How could anyone refuse a book? Books are awesome!" She says in Season 5 that she learned to read when she was three years old. Even bookworm Samwell Tarly was surprised at this. She explains that given her Delicate and Sickly status, confined indoors all the time, reading was the main activity she had. Since it's all she seems to do, she's probably more well-read as a teen than half the nobility of Westeros.
    • House of the Dragon: Both King Viserys and Alicent Hightower love to read about Westerosi history, which helps them to bond when they marry after the death of Queen Aemma.
  • Rory Gilmore and Jess Mariano in Gilmore Girls. Their initial friendship and eventual relationship is sparked off with a mutual love of literature, thanks to Jess secretly stealing her copy of Ginsburg's "Howl" and then returning it to her with his thoughts in the margins.
  • Heroes: Before his Face–Heel Turn, Sylar is shown to have practically covered every space in his apartment with shelves of books. Even his "living space" inside his mental prison is nothing but clocks and books.
  • Interview with the Vampire (2022):
    • Louis de Pointe du Lac often reads books, which is his sole pastime. When he's severely depressed in "A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart", reading is his only source of comfort because he buries himself (both literally and figuratively) in French literature. By 2022, he has followed Daniel's journalistic career for the past 49 years, which includes reading the latter's autobiography.
    • As a fledgling vampire, Claudia loves reading so much that she sometimes talks to books because she regards them as her friends. When she's older, she travels to numerous university libraries for seven years to do extensive research on the origin of vampires. In "Like Angels Put in Hell by God", she studies the European cities that she plans to visit while in her coffin.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Elrond likes to read and write inspiring speeches.
  • Brick from The Middle enjoys reading and quoting his books. His speech to Axl in "Twenty Years" is about how he reads so much because he doesn't have many friends. One episode shows him reading while riding a bike.
  • Belle from Once Upon a Time. She's Storybrooke's librarian and a tireless researcher, and her most prized possession is a novel titled Her Handsome Hero.
  • Mr. Boynton on Our Miss Brooks. In "Bones, Son of Cyrano", Mr. Boynton breaks a date with Miss Brooks so he can finish Cyrano de Bergerac.
  • Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars fame. Corey found him reading at his own bachelor party.
  • While it's only touched on every once in a while, part of the Back Story for Chuck of Pushing Daisies is how she accumulated a huge amount of books (and knowledge) due to her never being able to leave home. In the flashback sequences, we see a room that has what looks like thousands of books all stacked on top of each other.
  • Friedhelm Winter from Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter is never without a book. Provided he's not holding a gun, that is.

    Puppet Shows 
  • Between the Lions: The lions who run the library are, quite fittingly, avid readers, and every episode features one of them (typically either Theo or Cleo) actually reading a book aloud for the others.
  • Sesame Street has a song about this trope, sung by an actual worm.

    Roleplay 
  • Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues:
    • Jacob, a strict Schedule Fanatic, only allows leeway in his routine in order to fit in a book. In general, he's a very studious and anti-social boy.
    • Simon is also rather anti-social and can usually be found with a book in hand, his favourites being classical literature like Shakespeare.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Played with in Unknown Armies. Bibliomancers literally draw power from the books in their possession; they gain charges by acquiring new books, and unlike other adepts, how many charges they can hold is capped by the number of books they own. However, the actual content of the books is effectively meaningless - for them, it is the simple act of owning the books that grants them power. In fact, there's not actually anything in the rules that says they need to be literate. Dime-store pulp novels are just as important as the classics, though they gain stronger charges from books of greater monetary value. In a way, they're as greedy as the Plutomancers; they just draw power from a different source of wealth.

    Theatre 
  • Emily Book in The Sparrow. When asked by her teacher if she likes reading, she replies with, "It only seems fitting..." Emily Book loves to read. In the beginning, when she returns to her hometown after 10 years, she has with her a suitcase full of books.
  • Chava of Fiddler on the Roof is said to be a bookworm. In fact, that's how she first bonds with the guy who eventually becomes her husband. He mentions often noticing her at the bookseller's.
  • It's not mentioned in any of the movie versions, but some stage plays of Annie have an orphan named Kate in the cast. She's described as a dreamy bookworm with a great imagination.
  • Marian Paroo or Marian the Librarian of The Music Man, naturally.
  • Yentl of the eponymous musical, so much that she disguises herself as a boy after her father's death, just so she can go to yeshiva and study.
  • The Broadway version of Frozen (2018) includes a song, "What Do You Know About Love?", in which Anna mentions liking books.
  • Westeros: An American Musical: Shireen is introduced reading a long passage from a book out loud, impressing the much older Davos, who has just recently learned to read.

    Video Games 
  • The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind:
    • Jobasha, proprietor of "Jobasha's Rare Books" in Vivec, is the shining example of a Bookworm in the game. He is involved (directly or otherwise) with just about every quest in the game that requires finding a rare book. He has over 60 books available for purchase (with the exact number depending on which quests you have active).
    • Edwinna Elbert, Stewardess of the Ald-Ruhn Mages Guild Hall, fancies herself quite the expert on Dwemer technology and reads every book she can on the subject. A few of her quests task you with acquiring (or outright stealing) books for her to read.
    • Skink-in-Tree's-Shade, Master Wizard at the Wolverine Hall (Sadrith Mora) Guild Hall, asks you to find several rare (and forbidden) books during his quest line. He also operates a small bookselling service.
  • Princess Garnet of Final Fantasy IX alludes on numerous occasions to being one.
  • Canas in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, who is shown reading books that aren't dark magics on the battlefield. He's even surprised when Nino says she doesn't know how to read yet is practicing magic. (And is potentially one of the most powerful spellcasters next to Athos if not THE most powerful if one invests time into developing her.)
  • In Guild Wars 2, an NPC can be found at the end of a precarious and enemy-riddled jumping puzzle who traversed it with her nose in a book, completely unaware of where she was walking.
  • The Bookwyrm of Mixed Up Fairy Tales by Sierra is often seen with a book in hand when you pass by his cottage and is seemingly also in charge of looking after all the stories/fairytales as well. The antagonist, Bookend in contrast "hates" reading.
  • Persona:
  • The protagonist of Serena admits to being a bookworm, and according to him most of the books in the bookcase are his.
  • In Shuyan Saga, Shuyan's friend Lily is always reading something, and has just gotten a job as an archivist. She's not one of the fighting type, being one of the few characters in the game who doesn't seem to know kung fu. When the Guer invade, Shuyan has to choose whether to prioritise saving her mother or saving Lily.
  • A trait in The Sims 3. Sims with it read books faster, have more fun doing so, and often get wishes to read a certain number of books. They also make good writers, especially in the vaudeville genre.
  • Story of Seasons:
    • Maria is this way in Harvest Moon: Magical Melody. In Harvest Moon she was a highly religious woman who hung around the local church. In Magical Melody there is no church so she was mixed with her granddaughter to become the local librarian. Maria absolutely loves books.
    • Maria from Harvest Moon 64 (better known as "Mary" post-Harvest Moon: Back to Nature) is Maria's granddaughter. She is the Shrinking Violet librarian who spends her time reading and writing books.
    • In Back To Nature and Friends Of Mineral Town there is Gray. He partly frequents the library because his crush, Mary, works there, but he's displayed a genuine interest in reading, as well as discussing stories with her.
  • The librarians in Suikoden tend to either be this (such as Eike and especially Alhazred) or at least, naturally, encourage such as part of their job. Bolgan from Suikoden II in particular is noted by the game's resident librarian, Emilia, to have developed a real fondness for reading. Given that he's only just learning to, it'll likely grow.
  • Estelle from Tales of Vesperia is a Genius Ditz with a lot of knowledge in things that help the others in the party understand just what the heck is going on sometimes. When she isn't being the bookworm, then Rita is, given her background as a genius mage who's been studying blastia since she was 10!
  • Touhou Project has:
  • Unpacking: The protagonist is a very avid reader as demonstrated by her ever-growing book collection that you have to sort out in each level of the game.

    Visual Novels 
  • In Akatsuki no Goei, considering that he's a rude ex (kinda) thug with low grades, most people are astonished that to see Kaito constantly reading in his free time, going through several books in a day easily. It's one of the few traits he has in common with Genzou and actually puts him on Kyouka's good side.
  • In Katawa Shoujo, a few characters like to read. Hisao reads quite often, especially when hospitalized for four months after his heart attack in the prologue. Hanako, a Shrinking Violet who is one of the dateable girls, also greatly enjoys reading. Hanako's best friend, Lilly, who is blind, enjoys reading books in Braille.
  • Battler in Umineko: When They Cry is revealed to be a bookworm in Ep 5 where he states that he "only" reads about 100 books per year. It's revealed in Ep 7 that this was something he shared with Yasu as a child and the time they spent reading and discussing mystery novels resulted in Yasu falling in love with him.

    Webcomics 
  • Sebastian from The Back o' Beyond loves books and is seen reading in his first appearance.
  • Drowtales: Ariel is something of an avid reader as a small child but later becomes a Black Magician Girl. Yafein looks the part, but it's not canon whether he loves books.
  • Ashley of El Goonish Shive has a tendency to lose track of time reading in the bookstore. She has also managed to learn all their security camera blind spots because they don't approve of her reading books without buying them.
  • Sukina Lashiec from Heartcore loves her some books. Fittingly, her muse is listed as "books".
  • England from Hetalia: Axis Powers has literature listed as one of his hobbies. According to Hetaween 2011, Sherlock Holmes is his favorite.
    • Latvia is said to love reading poetry and romance novels.
  • Milk And Mocha has Mocha, who's an introverted book fanatic and is often seen reading. They do have other hobbies, like games, music, or watching films, but compared to Milk (their significant other) they clearly prefer books.
  • Nagisa from My Impossible Soulmate is introduced as being so focused on reading a book that she doesn't even notice Chiaki walked into the class.
  • Janis Lashway from The Overture spends all her time reading. She even impersonates being a priest in order to gain library privileges.
  • Pebble and Wren has the girl Wren, who is shown to enjoy reading in several strips. She has interests other than reading but still seems to enjoy reading a lot.
  • Yellow from Shinigami Death Punch is absolutely this. He seems more interested in his books than his job, most of the time.
  • In Sinfest, Crimney. He even hides behind stacks of them. (Which is why Fuschia poses as a Meganekko hoping to attract him).
  • Both Tuuri and Mikkel in Stand Still, Stay Silent. It is to the point that while Tuuri was the one officially hired for her scholar skills, Mikkel has become the de facto authority on which books get copied first, while Tuuri does the actual copying and discusses the contents of the books he chooses to read with him.

    Web Video 
  • The Autobiography of Jane Eyre: Jane Eyre says in her first video that she adores books. She mentions she could perhaps enjoy collecting other things as well, but nothing beats books in her eyes.
    "Mostly, I own books. I try to collect other things but I'm always like this: 'Why am I wasting my money on this when I could be buying a book?' Maybe that's weird."
  • Classic Alice:
    • The entire show revolves around Alice wanting to read & identify with books.
    • Alice frequently mentions reading 'the greats' in order to be a better writer.
    • Although Andrew would be remiss to admit it, it seems he's read quite a few of the books on Alice's list.
  • The Lizzie Bennet Diaries:
    • Lizzie Bennet frequently mentions that she loves curling herself up with a book and read and read and read.
    • The Bennet sisters' cousin Mary is a toned-down Goth girl. She's introduced as a great reader, reading a book and trying to ignore Lydia's antics who is recording material for her vlog.
  • Belle of University Ever After, like her Disney counterpart, always has a book in hand.

    Western Animation 
  • Archer: While Sterling Archer is mostly known for partying and womanizing during his free time, he is also shown to be an avid reader when no else is around. In one episode he chastises a female coworker to read a book and another episode shows him reading the Conquest of Mexico in bed wearing nothing from the waist up except for a pair of glasses and possibly nothing below the waist (although it it difficult to tell as he has a Modesty Bedsheet covering him from the waist down) as can be seen here.
  • Arthur: Several characters fall under this. They include Arthur himself, as well as Alan "Brain" Powers. Others include:
    • Fern Walters, who is both a reader and a writer.
    • Marina Datillo, Prunella's Academic Athlete friend; the girls bonded over a mutual love of Henry Skreever, which is an Expy of Harry Potter.
    • Prunella herself, though since she's somewhat of a minor character, we see this less than with the main cast.
  • Ben 10:
    • Ben 10: Alien Force: An implied but Downplayed Trope with the titular Ben Tennyson as a show of his room reveals that he has no less than three bookshelves, with one standing and two hanging, but is never shown much reading unlike Kevin Levin.
    • Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: Kevin Levin is given this characterization that can be seen in multiple episodes. In the Season 1 Episode 9 “Hero Time” he is seen standing in line along with Ben and Gwen reading a book called Darkfall which appears to be based on the Twilight series. In the Season 1 Episode 17 “Nor Iron Bar a Cage” when Ben and Gwen search his room in an effort to try to locate him, books are strewn around his room with them on the floor, on his desk, and even a bookshelf full of them. In the Season 2 Episode 8 “Basic Training” when the trio are forced to go through training at the Plumbers’ Academy, Kevin spends his free time reading the Plumbers Handbook in an effort to get his father’s plumbers badge back. Even Gwen noted that when he was imprisoned that he read a lot of books along being good at math and being knowledgeable in history. All examples have compiled and can be seen here.
  • Bojack Horseman: Both Bojack Horseman and Mr. Peanutbutter are implied to be a downplayed version of this trope. For the former, besides the various scripts he is shown reading for his job as well as his dialogue implying that he is very well read, he is shown reading an unknown red book in a dream of him and Charlotte raising a horse child away from civilization next to a lake with said daughter splashing happily with a shirtless human guy who could be a friend or boyfriend. For the latter, he is shown reading the book The Catcher in the Rye with an added funny bonus of having him wearing reading glasses on his nose, suggesting that he is farsighted and requires reading glasses, while his sunglasses are still on his head.
  • Jem: This is one of Ba Nee's main character traits. She's introduced as a book-loving ill girl who needs eye surgery or else she'll go blind. After her eyes recover, her characterization switches to focusing on finding the whereabouts of her Disappeared Dad, but her passion for reading isn't completely ignored. She encourages the illiterate Roxy to learn to read.
  • The Magic School Bus: Dorothy Ann is the prime example of this. She's never seen without her book bag and relies heavily on her books for knowledge.
  • Molly of Denali: Daniel is an avid reader who runs the town library.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • Twilight Sparkle tends to do everything by the book and is relatively obsessed with them. For a while, she even lived in a library until it was destroyed in "Twilight's Kingdom". She then proceeded to get a castle, which had an even bigger library. Twilight once literally had a slumber party by the book.
    • Downplayed with Rainbow Dash. During the episode "Read It and Weep," Rainbow becomes a fan of the Daring Do series of adventure novels while recovering from a broken wing, but is ashamed to admit it. Past Season 4, Rainbow Dash becomes quite vocal about her love of that particular series, but tends to view reading in general as for "eggheads."
    • In "Amending Fences", Moondancer is shown to be very much like Twilight growing up, always with her head in books, but in the time since Twilight left Canterlot, she's become even more so, to the point of becoming a total recluse, all because Twilight inadvertently snubbed her by missing her party and moving to Ponyville.
    • Ocellus is a changeling who likes reading and studying so much, that Gallus the griffon actually cracks a joke about how she will survive 2 whole weeks without studying in "The Hearth's Warming Club".
  • Ready Jet Go!: Mitchell is shown to be a fan of classic literature, as opposed to the other kids, who mainly read heavy textbooks and comic books. Mitchell is a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes, and reads Treasure Island in "Treasure Map".
  • Rugrats: Edwin Carmichael, Susie's six-year-old brother. In "Tooth or Dare", when Susie, Tommy, and Angelica ask him about the Tooth Fairy, they get to his bedroom, which has so many books that Angelica mistakes it for a library. He has a copy of The Odyssey by Homer, and is reading about quantum physics when they walk in. He also wears glasses with extremely large frames (bigger than Chuckie's) to drive the point home.
  • The Simpsons: Lisa Simpson. Her family doesn't understand her passion much. One episode had her uncle Herb paying her a subscription to books from Western canon. Oh, and she had a very passionate conversation about her love of books with her grandma Mona.
  • South Park: Kyle Broflovski is shown to like reading more than his friends and he clearly reads for fun and knowledge as well. In “The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000”, he becomes so distraught after finding out that the Tooth Fairy isn’t real. Kyle reads several books about philosophy, reality, and science. Cartman even says “Will somebody take those books away from him?”. His bedroom also contains more books and academically inclined things than the other kids’ rooms do.
  • Steven Universe: The title character becomes one as an indirect result of having his TV privileges revoked for 1,000 years. Steven's friend Connie Maheswaran has been one from the start (she was seen reading a book when we first meet her) and appears to be the one who got him into reading.
  • Teen Titans: Raven. The books she likes to read are probably ancient tomes filled to the brim with powerful magic spells that could make her even more devastating in battle, but she still loses her patience when no one will leave her alone to finish the story of a wizard's battle with a dragon...
  • Wild Kratts: Since Martin and Chris Kratt are both scholars and zoologists, this should come as no surprise that they are both this trope. Martin prefers books like ancient texts on fire salamanders, Greek mythology/religion, and classical fiction such as “The Jungle Book”. Chris prefers books like Lewis and Clark’s expedition journal as well as ones with topics on the origins of an animal’s common name and the scientific name of different animals in Latin or Ancient Greek.
  • Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: Walden happens to have books be one of his three specialties alongside science and art. When Wubbzy was asked about how Walden got so smart in his interview, he says "books, books, and more books!"
  • Work It Out Wombats!: Malik, the intellectual of the bunch, enjoys reading.

    Real Life 
  • Oprah Winfrey was like this when she was young. She actually taught herself to read when she was two or three. (Something that is uncommon but not unheard of.)
  • David Bowie regularly travelled with at least a trunk full of books in The '70s and once presented a list of recommendations at his official website, taken from what he'd then-recently read/re-read. The list contained 51 titles!
  • Groucho Marx was an avid reader, something reinforced when he had to drop out of school and do vaudeville full-time to support his family. He said he tried to read a new book every day, and that the proudest moment of his career was the Library of Congress choosing one of his books to be preserved for historical significance. One of his most famous quotes: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
  • Morrissey is a proud Bookworm and often makes reference to English literature. Deconstructed with all the references to Intelligence Equals Isolation and Loners Are Freaks from his point of view. Played for Drama, of course, because it's Morrissey.
  • Ian Curtis was also an avid reader, particularly of Franz Kafka and JG Ballard. That would explain a thing or two about his lyrics...
  • Richard Burton memorised most of Shakespeare, carried books with him wherever he went, and read several books a day.
  • In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou says she was like this.
  • Terry Pratchett was noted for having read many, many books, fiction or non-fiction, throughout his life. No wonder his own works are jam-packed with genius bonuses.
  • Thomas Jefferson's massive library formed the basis of the United States' Library of Congress.


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