Do you believe it’s mid-way through July already?  It’s time for a Top Ten Tuesday and the subject for today is Ten Bookish Characters in Books (that I have read and enjoyed).

I found it interesting that these bookish characters I enjoyed spent time with me when I was younger. Though I still revisited several of them in later life.

1.  Anne Frank loved her books in the Diary of Anne Frank. It surprises me how much I think of and remember her and often wonder what would have become of her had she not perished in the Holocaust.

2. Atticus Finch is a bookish character that many of us know from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I loved him in both the book and the film. Gregory Peck certainly did justice to him in the film version. A lovely character.

3. Elizabeth Bennet and all of her sisters, for the matter in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen were certainly bookish characters. I often wonder how much more we would all read if we didn’t have tv, Netflix and the internet.  It becomes harder and harder to focus on books at times of tiredness when these are available. We must be strong!

4. Liesel Meminger shared her reading with us in the wonderful story of The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak.  What a great book that is.

5. Jay Gatsby had that huge library in The Great Gatsby. He must have been a reader to have had so many books in his home.  Another wonderful tale I have read a couple of times. F. Scott Fitzgerald.

6.  Francie Nolan in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and other characters in Betty Smith’s books were readers. Francie would sit on the fire escape outside of her Brooklyn apartment and read during the summer days. A character I continue to love.

7. Jo March in Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott.  Who doesn’t remember the influence she had on our reading as a young person.  I can still see her sitting by the fireplace reading her books. An image that will remain forever.

8.  Clare Abshire in the Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.  Although she was an artist I will always remember her as a very old woman sitting in her chair when her husband revisits her once more, reading a book and sees her sitting there. An unforgettable image.

9. Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch by George Elliot. She had such high hopes of working with that awful husband of hers that she thought she would assist. She was most certainly a reader. That early life was certainly a disappointment.

10.  This is one non-fiction character who sat in his study with his wife Helen and good friend Seigfried Farnon in front of a roaring fire reading their veterinary journals and books.  I’m referring to the well known veterinarian, James Herriot. I remember the scene fondly from the wonderful series with Christopher Timothy playing the lead role. Mr. Penguin and I went to Thirsk in the early 1970’s to tour the areas the books and series mentioned.  We were fortunate enough to meet the wonderful James Heriott in the flesh. We visited his surgery along with about 12 other people and chatted to him. We saw the little border terrier that he is often pictured with and he signed our

book.  It was unforgettable to us.

What an eclectic collection of travels through wonderful books and characters this little meme has been.