The Biggest Book Lovers in Books

One of my favorite things about working for ThriftBooks is the chance to write a blog post here and there. The request came in to write one about “The Biggest Book Lovers in Books,” and I’ll admit I was a little stumped at first. Nothing really came to mind. 

I asked my Book Club friends. I perused each title on my bookshelf, I stared into space and thought about it. (I stubbornly refused to Google it.) And between my friends, my bookshelf and staring into space, I realized there are SO MANY books about book lovers. I really had no idea. Too many to cover in one small blog post. If you think about it, it does make perfect sense. A bibliophile is a fantastic main character: smart, resourceful, and maybe a tiny bit nerdy in an underdog kind of way. (This is coming from someone who hit the library every day after school.) 

I set out to create a list of Biggest Book Lovers, but it became more complex as my list came together. Turns out, there’s a wide spectrum of what it means to be a book lover. Here are a few that rose to the top. 

Matilda is The Curious Reader who finds her place in the world through reading and love of books. I read all of Roald Dahl’s books to my three kiddos and this one was always a favorite. She’s so spunky and optimistic with truly terrible parents. 

Don Quixote is The Reader Who Became the Hero; I’ve never read this 400-year-old classic, but I’m intrigued by its kooky main character whose love of stories gets him out in the world on his own adventure. It also gives great perspective to how many other hundreds of books since then have been inspired by one of the first modern novels. 

The Book Thief is The Reader Who Finds Hope; I first read this years ago and am now inspired to go back and re-read it once more. Grim as this sounds, Death as the narrator of the story adds an interesting element of mysticism that sets it apart from some of the dozens of other titles set in WW2 that came out during that time. 

The Name of the Rose is The Keeper of Knowledge; One of the more complex titles on the list centered around one of literature’s most famous libraries. It was originally published in 1980 in Italian and truthfully, I didn’t quite understand it when it was assigned by an earnest Literature professor in college. I’ve come to realize how complex and fascinating this book truly is.  

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books is The Defender of the Freedom to Read and also on my TBR list, along with Don Quixote. The overview of two small town arch enemies having a showdown over banned books. I can’t wait to see how this unfolds, can you blame me? 

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is The Ultimate Bibliophile who always reminds me of some version of Meg Ryan in You Got Mail (But even funnier and smarter). I’ve read this one at least twice and it’s one of my favorite titles to recommend to someone who needs a lighter book that doesn’t feel like fluff. 

There are countless others, truly one could make an entire year’s theme of reading Book Lover titles. A few others I just couldn’t include but can’t resist mentioning: Starless Sea, The Book of Lost Names, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion and last but certainly not least, The Correspondent. What else comes to mind? Please share in the comments below! 

Read more by Leslie LaRue