9 Books That Television's Most Famous Characters Read For Fun

'Cause even these guys have hobbies.

1. Fault in Our Stars in Orange is the New Black

Netflix / Orange is the New Black

Author: John Green

Read by: Yvonne “Vee” Parker

The acclaimed sixth novel from author John Green is the story of a young cancer patient, Hazel, who falls in love with Augustus whilst attending a support group. It’s a beautiful, tragic, and inspiring story which makes seeing it in the hands of the brutal Vee Parker slightly jarring.

2. Him With His Foot In His Mouth in Girls

HBO / Girls

Author: Saul Bellow

Read by: Hannah Horvath

In this episode of Girls, Hannah is seen reading Adam's copy of Him With His Foot In His Mouth, written by Nobel Prize winning author Saul Bellow, in order to get to know him better. The tale follows Harry Shawlmut, a man whose life has fallen apart, who becomes obsessed with making amends for a kinda-cruel joke he made to a female colleague over three decades prior.

3. The Nutmeg of Consolation in Parks and Recreation

NBC / Parks and Recreation

Author: Patrick O’Brian

Read by: Ron Swanson

Ron Swanson is the fucking man. He eats steak, drinks whiskey, and would no doubt win the battle of man versus wild if he were to ever find himself stranded on a desert island. That is why it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see him reading a novel based on a crew's survival in the hands of pirates after being shipwrecked. Ron Swanson would make a damn fine pirate.

4. War and Peace in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

FXX / It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Read by: Charlie Kelly

Some of the funniest moment in IASIP come from Charlie Kelly’s utter idiocy. I mean, the dude eats cat food to make himself nauseous and pass out every night. In the episode "Flowers for Charlie" (Season 9, Episode 8) the dynamic of the gang is upended when Charlie takes some pills, which supposedly turn him into a super-genius. And we all know that super-geniuses can’t be called a super-genius without reading War and Peace.

5. The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds in The Sopranos

HBO / The Sopranos

Author: John Kenneth Terres

Read by: Tony Soprano

Because even mob bosses can appreciate the beauty of nature.

6. The Shape of Things to Come in The Walking Dead

AMC / The Walking Dead

Author: H.G. Wells

Read by: Eugene Porter

Could there be a more fitting novel for Eugene to be reading than one that outlines the destruction of humanity? Sure, in The Shape of Things to Come the plague doesn’t reanimate the dead, but we do see a new civilization being built from nothing with the aim of creating a race of geniuses. Foreshadowing perhaps?

7. One Hundred Years of Solitude in How I Met Your Mother

Citytv / How I Met Your Mother

Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Read by: Ted Mosby

I think the title of this book alone fits Ted well. And while he might not have been alone for one hundred years, 10 Seasons is a pretty long time by anyone's standards.

8. The Battle Of The Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864 in House of Cards

Netflix / House of Cards

Author: Gordon C. Rhea

Read by: Frank Underwood

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” said the famous philosopher George Santayana, and nobody understand that rule better than the ruthless Frank Underwood. In his quest to unseat the most powerful man in the free world, we catch the Vice President brushing up on the lessons that can be learned from the famous first engagement between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. What a badass.

9. Killing Pablo in Breaking Bad

AMC / Breaking Bad

Author: Mark Bowden

Read by: Walter White Jr.

This must have been an awkward conversation for Walter White, meth cook. His son is reading a book about the hunt for Pablo Escobar, given to him by his uncle Hank, who happens to be in the DEA.