books about books
18 novels about readers, reads, and the places that purvey them
The only thing that’s better than reading a book is reading a book about a book. Because books are the best and therefore extra bookish books are even best-er.
Unfortunately this little life-hack, which somehow makes me feel like I’m multitasking in my bibliophilia, has one catch:
Books about books are often book club-y. And not to make things somehow more confusing, but I don’t love book club fiction.
I want books with real edge and darkness and realness, which more fluffy stuff can avoid.
Still, through the power of perseverance and immense courage, I have managed to find 18 books about books I would recommend in any context — reads that are funny or serious or witty or wise and also supremely literary.
books about writers
This is one of my husband’s pet peeves — how many books are either written by writers about writers or by writers about a thinly veiled metaphor for writers.
Me personally? I love it. Maybe it’s lazy, but it also leads to a depth and authenticity and natural interest. I can’t get enough of reading about writing.
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
There was never going to be a different opening book for this post.
Casey is struggling to make it as a writer, armed with a post-grad degree and a high-end serving job in Boston. Her commitment to herself and her craft is a delight to read, and imbues the character-driven and somewhat plotless (just how I like it) story with intensity and stakes.
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
In a society where objects are disappearing — from the world and from its memory — those who can recall what’s lost are persecuted. A novelist protecting her editor clings to her ability to write.
This book is a rare combination: riveting and thought-provoking. It’s as plot-driven as it is thoughtful and significant, a win/win situation lit fic readers will know is hard to find. A love of books fuels its story.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Kind of a shocking choice for the Pulitzer, in that this is charming and humorous and upbeat and well-written rather than gloomy and ominous and unreadable and well-written. We follow a failing novelist on a slapped-together world book tour, and he falls in love and falls into a sort of success and also falls of the prat variety.
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
I love Ann Patchett and I love family sagas, and I love the novelist twist this one has to it. When Franny begins an affair with a famous author, she tells him the story of her messy and magical childhood — which becomes the basis for a bestseller, bringing all of this sprawling family back together and drawing them further apart.
Bunny by Mona Awad
I am hesitant to recommend this book, because I hated its sequel so much that I question whether I was completely wrong about the whole thing, but this satirical hazing of monoculture MFAs and the types of people who are drawn to them fits this list too well to resist.
books about publishing
For most of my adolescence, I dreamed about going into publishing — and in fact I majored in as close to “Publishing As A Concept” that an overpriced bachelor’s degree could get you at the time.
I’ve since determined I’d rather read books and write about them than have to decide which exist, but I still enjoy immersing myself in that path not taken through novels.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Ms. Henry is guilty of writing books about the bookish — librarians, and writers, and travel bloggers — over and over, but to me that’s part of the appeal. Until I receive the welcome and well-awaited shock of a lifetime when she returns to YA magical realism, I enjoy the sameness. Still, I think the publishing industry enemies-to-lovers plotline is more successfully landed than some of the others.
Luster by Raven Leilani
It is impossible to remember that this book follows an editor at a publisher of children’s books, because the vibe could not be further from the sense whimsy and playfulness that 2000s romcom job summons. Fittingly, it’s one of the many aspects of life our protagonist finds dissatisfying, and the contrast works.
Severance by Ling Ma
I see your “we’ll still be writing emails at the end of the world” and raise you “we’ll be ushering coffee table books through the manufacturing process until the apocalypse stops us.” This is a nonsense job perfect for this novel’s disgust with capitalistic meaninglessness.
Yellowface by RF Kuang
What if the worst person in the world was a writer (realistic) and used the death of a more successful friend as an opportunity to steal their work (less so)? This is a really annoying, really fun read about authorship (in more ways than one). Because of the whole plagiarism element kind of getting in the way of any “writing,” it’s more of a mocking send-up of publishing.
Bitter Sweet by Hattie Williams
Charlie is happy with the life she’s making for herself, one with lovely rich friends and a nice home and a prestigious if essentially unpaid role in publishing, when a famous and much older author begins pursuing her. It’s a frustrating, sad, too real read.
books about bookworms
Representation matters. It’s so important to see yourself on page.
Sometimes nerdy protagonists can feel like they’re meant to skip a step so you care about them right away…but these ones I actually like.
Matilda by Roald Dahl
It’s cruel and unusual that this book is given to so many young readers so early in their bookish career. I have long had some small belief that someday I will develop the magical powers that Matilda does…although as I’m writing this the metaphor is dawning on me.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Now, the pain caused to me by the introduction and confiscation of book-related fantasy in this one will not be soothed so easily. Zachary, a graduate student in New England, stumbles upon a secret literary society with a hidden land for readers. Insights into the elegant and unforgettable world that once was alternate with the danger Zachary is now in, in the midst of its timeworn remains.
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
Not to brag, but this particular charming metaphor was clear to me from the start. As the suffering come to a library, they are given unexpected book recommendations by a mysterious librarian — ones that, once checked out, contain exactly the solutions their readers needed.
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Reading causes all of Catherine’s problems, but also it changes her life and helps her land her romantic lead so it’s not all bad.
Our girl is obsessed with Gothic horror (I can only imagine how unscary 19th century Thrillers for Girls were), which, as she experiences society for the first time, leads her to think every house is haunted and every grumpy gentleman a monstrous criminal. We’ve all stayed up too late reading and gone insane about it.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
I’m only just realizing…this book also follows a Catherine whose first experiences in grown-up society are marred by how naïve and dorky endless reading has made her.
This is no Austen, but it does a good job of capturing the particular anxieties of going to college and coming of age, and its knockoff Harry Potter is a core (if, in my case, unwelcome) presence.
books about bookstores
This one is the biggest culprit. My albatross. My white whale. My animal burdens from overlong school-assigned texts.
I want to read any and every book about bookstores, and I have. I’ve read romances set in bookstores and about the people who work in them. I’ve read about cats in bookshops and mysteries amid the shelves and tales of self discovery while selling tomes. And I’ve liked almost none of them.
In fact, it may just be these three:
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Zevin’s mega bestseller could not have been more middling for me, but this story about a curmudgeonly bookseller finding happiness worked. Although now that I think of it…I read it in 2019. Is it an old wives’ tale that your cells are fully replaced every 7 years? Because I don’t think I have anything in common with then-me, let alone reading taste. And who are the old wives?
You by Caroline Kepnes
This thriller is much edgier and more interesting than its miserable horde of sequels or soapy Netflix adaptation would indicate. (To be honest, I watch very little TV and yet I’ve seen every episode of the show. And also have read all the sequels.) Joe Goldberg is a handsome, charming bookseller who falls in love with a beautiful poetry-writing shopper and spends the rest of the twisty narrative revealing himself to be a creepy little freak.
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney
I know I said this would be a list of novels, but 17 out of 18 ain’t bad — and if I ever recommend nonfiction, you should know it’s as readable as lit fic. My brain does not work during info-dumps.
Romney is an Austenite and rare book dealer who started getting frustrated with how Austen’s place in the canon was being used to the detriment of other female writers, and set out to read and collect her influences. It grew my TBR considerably with old ass books I have never heard of (and honestly will probably never read).
me taking notes of the ones i haven’t read yet 📝📝
I love Writers and Lovers and Less! Great writing about writers.