You’ll hate these books (unless you’re 100% book nerd)
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- čas přidán 28. 07. 2024
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/// BOOKS MENTIONED ///
The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent
The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
The Library of Unrequired Love by Sophie Divry
Bambert's Book of Missing Stories by Reinhardt Jung
The Assembly of the Severed Head by Hugh Lupton
84 Charring Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
Mr. Penumbra’s 24 hour Bookshop by Robin Sloan
Pages & Co.: Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Stories of Books and Libraries by Jane Holloway
/// HONOROUBLE MENTIONS ///
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
First Person by Richard Flanagan
Dear Reader by Paul Fournel
/// TBR ///
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Shadow of the Wind by Carols Ruiz Zafón
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
/// TIMESTAMPS ///
0:00 Intro
1:26 The list
11:07 Honourable mentions
12:19 TBR list
13:56 Outro
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Re the pulping: the wastefulness of the industry is something that I am still struggling with as a reader. I've been trying to be more mindful of my consumption (literally) of books by only buying second hand books for 2 years now. Would love a video from you about sustainability & the book industry at some point!
Ariel Bissett made a video on this topic a couple of years ago if you want to check it out before Leena takes a crack at it czcams.com/video/TbTu9Rz_w9w/video.html
A video on the sustainability of all reading options, looking at the entire picture, would be really cool! So when talking about ebooks, for example, also looking at the impact of digital storage, internet use, etc. If buying secondhand, how does that affect the printing industry and does it cause more waste (because new books aren't being bought as much in that situation, would they then be thrown away?). It can be really complex to look into all those different elements related to sustainability, so a concise video on the topic would be very helpful!
I wonder if pre ordering books helps reduce waste or might promote it if there are lots of pre-orders and less interest in the book after
84 charing cross road made me sob so much that for weeks afterwards i couldn’t even look at my copy without bursting into tears lol
„The Book Thief“ and „The Shadow of the Wind“ are two of my all time favorite books.
Also an amazing one that I have missed in the collection is Cornelia Funke‘s „Inkheart“ which is based on the premise that what you read aloud might come alive. Wonderful story with lovable as well as detestable characters.
There's a new Inkworld book coming out this October! Thought I'd let you know :D
I remember when I volunteered at Oxfam bookshop they also had to pulp about half their donations because they just got so many that there wasn't any room to store them. Which made me feel really bad for the books! And also shows that just donating to a charity shop isn't always the best move when you want to be sustainable
gotta shout out "If on a winters night a traveller" by Italo Calvino when its a video on meta books (big fan of books^2 as a descriptor). That book called me out so hard on identifying as a reader, whilst barely reading - something that book, and the boyfriend who gifted it to me, helped me rectify and now I'm back to devouring books left and right. Highly recommend!
I was going to suggest this too.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig -- 100% recommend! TW: A woman tries to take her own life. She ends up at the midnight library where she gets to try different lives she wishes she had lived. It's brilliant and heart-warming even though it touches on a difficult topic and experience!
That sounds interesting
I recommend The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa. it's translated from Japanese, a pretty short and simple read but really heartwarming, it's essentially about a cat who travels through a portal to a young boy to help him love and appreciate his grandparents bookshop more.
Did u read The Exterminating Manuscript by Gema Clouds? A group of young folks decides to make their first vacation in the last year of college school, but they need money so resolve to simulate a kidnap. A fantastic modern unique epic tale.
There are two other german books/series I would recommend you:
- Inkheart by Cornelia Funke: A trilogy where 12yr old Meggie discovers that her father not only restores books but he can actually read characters out of the books but something or someone has to go into the book instead.
- The Neverending Story by Michael Ende: Telling the story of a boy reading the book "The Neverending Story". To separate between the book and the storyline of the boy reading the book, it is often written in two different colors. A beautiful story of how fantasy is keeping books alive and a terrible movie that destroys the whole message of the book.
I really love the Inkworld series too and apparently I'm on a mission to let everyone know that there's a fourth book coming out this year! 😊
@@miraaa19 Whaaaaat?! That's awesome, I didn't know that, thanks for the info!
Great recommendations! The Neverending Story is the first book that comes to my mind when thinking about a book about books 😊
There is an Inkheart movie as well, please don't watch it! Or at least read the book first. It is honestly wonderful. And the movie... isn't.
I have such fond memories of both of these books. They were among the stories that made me fall in love with reading as a child. I still have these books on the shelf, despite several ruthless decluttering sessions over the years. I cannot let them go. They symbolize my love for books.
i just had to read 'if on a winter's night a traveler' by italo calvino for a class and i thought it was truly fascinating! it's about all different kinds of relations towards reading/writing/literature, and Very meta, had a great time reading it!
I'm powerless to resist anything once I hear "antiquarian bookshop"
The Princess Bride is a surprising and delightful one to put on this list, if anyone loves the movie and also a book about books!
Love this ❤ would recommend adding the Inkheart trilogy to your tbr list. A middle-grade fantasy-ish series that I absolutely adored when I was younger about a girl who discovers her father, a book binder and repairman, can bring characters out of books by reading them aloud - only some characters refuse to go back. It’s worth reading if only for the book binding descriptions and the character of Aunt Eleanor who is absolutely eccentric library-owning childless woman goals
Yes! I LOVED this series when I was a teen. I was so disappointed with the film adaptation.
Oh my god thank you! I remember reading these as a kid and loving them, but i could not remember the title. I will read them again!
I recently re-read the first book and it was so much better than I remembered!
omg YES! i was really hoping Inkheart would be in this video
I need to re-read them. They were my favourites when I was like 13.
I just finished The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated from Japanese. I see down below someone else has mentioned it as well. It is about a young man whose grandfather has just passed away. The young man goes on adventures with a talking cat to save books from people who are mistreating the books in different ways. I don't know If I would call it a favourite but I really enjoy reading it. It was a nice cozy read.
Came here to recommend this one!
I absolutely love and adore Shaun Bythell's The Diary of a Bookseller. He's funny, cynical, and you get to pretend to be a bookseller along with him when you read his notes. Highly recommend!
I know it was also extremely popular, and was made into a movie that I haven't seen, but I ADORED The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Such a lovely book.
Oh yes I agree!! That book made me so happy! Also I did watch the movie, and in my opinion the book is MUCH better.
Yes! I love both the book and the film. I just wanted to recommend it too.
Oh I adore this book ! Did you read The Truth According to Us ?
I read this on a coach cover to cover and then just hugged it to myself for the rest of the journey, I absolutely loved it
I only recently read this after it was on my tbr for like two years and oh my gosh I loved it so much!
I hadn’t realised quite what a book nerd I am until I watched this video and wanted to immediately read all the books you mentioned 😂
This is such a cool "niche" genre, I remember when I was younger and didn't have access to a library what joy it was when completely unexpected the service we used to buy books from gifted us this book about the bond of a young librarian and the child she involuntary kidnap (sort of?) and their adventure. I have not reread it in such a long time, and I was probably mostly enchanted by the idea of the library aspect in itself as the best thing we came up as humans, but I remember it sooo fondly! It's the borrower by Rebecca Makkai, if someone's want to check it out. I even made a list of the books suggestions with the intention of using it as a gift-guide for my little cousins lol
I would definitely check out some of your suggestions, they seems amazing.
Good video as always, waiting for them it's one of the things that makes mondays more bereable!
I listened to the audiobook version of The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan - it's about a young librarian who loses her job at the library in the city and decides to make a living selling books from a traveling van. It's absolutely delightful, there's romance and friendships and hardships that come with flipping your whole life upside down.
Love this video! The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is one of my all time favorite “books about books” 🥰
Ella Minnow Pea is a very clever and short book about a community that slowly bans certain letters.
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller is a good book about the experience of being a reader
The most meta book has got to be S. by Doug Dorst and J J Abrams. Have you heard of it? It's a book with notes written in the margins and letters sandwiched in between the pages and you have to uncover the mystery of the author and decode all these messages - it's a whole project but it is totally amazing and I would love to see you tackle it.
One of my favorite books in the past year was "The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern. I have no idea how to summarize it, but I liked this sentence from the Wikipedia page: "The Starless Sea does not have a linear plot, but rather is a pastiche of a modern narrative, folk tales, mysterious biographical snippets, stories within stories within stories, and the made-up history of the fantastical world within which it takes place, all interlocking and intertwining."
I also really enjoyed "The Library of the Unwritten" by A.J. Hackwith, which follows the story of the librarian of Hell's library of books that either have not yet been written, or will never be written. I think it's not as focused on books as some of these other novels, but it's a fun adventure about a librarian so I think it counts!
My favourite book ever is The Neverending Story by Michael Ende :) Also a translation and centres reading and stories!
How come CZcams won't let me leave 10 thumbs up? 100 thumbs up? 1000 likes? You and your lists and your summaries and your earrings and your bookshelves. All perfect. ❤❤❤❤❤
Thank you!!
I read Rafik Schami's Damascus Nights recently and absolutely loved it! It's not a book about books but it is a book about storytelling and the oral tradition, so it still fits in this category I think. Stunningly vivid writing and a love for stories that is tangible!
I second that. Beautiful book
Sophie's World is a great book within a book. If you like philosophy and want to learn the basics of all the popular philosophers it's a fun way to do so, and then the concept of the relationship between characters and authors is quite enjoyable. Very long audiobook, but Simon Vance is lovely to listen to
For anyone wanting an adults version of the Pages and Co. book - I would recommend The Eyre Affair series (honourably mentioned at the end). I have read the whole series and loved it so much! It really helps if you have a good basic knowledge of the classics though.
Thursday! 😊
The Dictionary of Lost Words
by Pip Williams was a pleasantly surprising find in a small bookstore. It’s not about books but about words - I guess it’s a book for super nerds 😂
The author Pip Williams has just come out with another book set in the same world about two girls that work in the printing press I think, set about the same time. I guess she did a lot of research for Lost Words and wanted to use it but I’m not complaining 😆
@@mishadasari, whaaaat? This is great news, thank you for sharing! 😊
84 Charing Cross Road is so delightful. A warm hug of a book even if you don't love books about books.
I just started The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu, pretty sure a library’s going to come into the story sooner or later. And here’s one for the word nerds: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig, a dictionary of made-up words that you never realized you needed but after reading it realize you absolutely do. Thanks for all the recommendations, these will definitely go on my tbr 😀
Loved this book
I just finished reading 'The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep' and I was fully expecting to hear it mentioned, since it's so good! A guy has the power to read book characters into existence, but doesn't really have control over it so that might lead to unwelcome guests.
It is really cool book where a lot of characters from famous books interact with each other
I loved Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. Quite literally a book within a book. Who whodunnit within a whodunnit. It's great.
Would definitely recommend the Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith. It's a really fun, lighthearted read about a library in hell that contains all the unwritten books of humanity (kinda Good Omens vibes). Another one I loved is the Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. Thanks for the recommendations as always Leena!
84 Charing Cross Road. That book (and movie) absolutely freaking deeeestrrrooyyyyys me every time! So glad to see it here.
Strange Library by Haruki Murakami is very magical and there's some beautiful illustrated editions
Dear Reader by Cathy Rentzenbrink is genuinely one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s about the authors personal experience with reading and working in bookshops and eventually becoming an author herself. It goes through her whole life and she tells you which books she enjoyed and which books helped her get through tough times. It makes you truly believe in the power of reading and books and words and also has very good commentary about the accessability of those things.❤️❤️❤️
I think I'm kind of basic, because my favorite book about books is The Fault in Our Stars, haha. But I was thinking about metafiction recently, and I think I enjoy it most in fantasy settings, like in The Hazel Wood and The Starless Sea and The Stormlight Archive. And I also just love book-loving characters, like Matilda and Anne Shirley and Lazlo Strange.
Aah, you had me thinking there when you said that you bet we hadn't read a book set in 13th century Wales. During lockdown I read "The Lost Welsh Kingdom" by John Hughes. I just checked...it was 11th century but sooo worth a read.
I cannot recommend The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern enough here!! A book with dozens of stories, ABOUT stories, featuring a secret underground library/museum??? Doesn’t get any better. This book tapped into all the magical feelings I got from reading as a kid ✨✨✨
Me a french * struggle to find books I like in french *
This video * exist *
❤
Ooh quelle bonne idée pour un vidéo à l'avenir sur les livres en autres langues comme français, japonais, etc, peut-être Leena, stp? 😍
We appreciate your effort and hard work on this channel. God bless you.
All these books sounds great! Also, i got reminded of this book (which i have not read), "written" by a swedish comedian, that's basically just a ton of small notes he's found during his comedy tours. The notes are everything from half of a shopping list to an angry notes about some random neighbors behavior and so on.
I really struggle reading BUT i love your passion for it, i watch your videos to help me find gift ideas for those in my life who love to read, so this is incredibly helpful for ensuring my bookworm friends are happy
Have you tried listening to short audio books? Then maybe longer audio books? I like to listen to audiobooks while I do projects like cleaning out the cabinets or folding a bunch of clothes and reorganizing shelves and stuff. 😊
I’m currently reading Portable Magic by Emma Smith which talks about how the physicality of books informs how they are read. It gets into how things like the binding and typesetting change the experience of reading. I’m loving it so far.
I adore Susan Orlean's The Library Book! It's a nonfiction book: the core of the story is the 1986 fire in the Los Angeles Public Library, but Orlean pulls together many different threads, including the wacky history of that public library, what libraries mean to people, and the history of book burning. Her style is reminiscent of Joan Didion or Rebecca Solnit, but she has a bit more humor and warmth.
I remember going to the Edinburgh book festival with school and randomly picking up Haunted (probably because of the cover you showed!) I absolutely love the book and have reread it multiple times... Hope you enjoy! 😊
I love these sort of books so thank you for doing a video on them! I have lots of recommendations - some of which have already been mentioned in the comments already. There's a series of books called The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman which is so much fun - fantasy elements, multiple worlds based on books, a shadowy library that protects special books and storyline continuity. Would also definitely recommend The Library of the Dead series by T.L. Huchu too.
I enjoyed The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, a light but very sweet and sentimental read. If you like romance set in bookshops/libraries etc there are so many options too! But some of my favourites are The Little Bookshop of Lonely Hearts series by Annie Darling, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman, Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland (she also has a new book out called Found in a Bookshop which doesn't seem to be romance). And of course Book Lovers by Emily Henry!
Inkheart!!! Absolutely one of my favorite trilogies as a child but I reread them last year and they still absolutely stand up even as someone who doesn’t like fantasy very much. They are a book lovers dream.
Such a great series! I'm apparently on a mission to let everyone know that there's a fourth book coming out this year!
I'd like to recommend The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa. It definitely reads as "for kids" but it feels really heartwarming.
I would like to add The Library by Bella Osborne to this, it’s about the life changing importance of reading and libraries. Also, it’s a very abstract take on meta fiction but, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern really captured the magic of storytelling for me.
The fact that 84 Charing Cross Road is actually non-fiction makes it even more powerful 💔
For those of us over 45, 84 Charing Cross Rd was ruined by the recurring Lee & Herring sketch about it.
I haven't read it yet as I think its release date is later this month but Yellowface by RF Kuang is the PERFECT concept for this group of books.
I'm so interested in this but I'm struggling to finish Babel so I'm worried. I love the "stolen manuscript" trope (if that's a thing) like The Plot by Jean Hampff Korelitz.
The Starless Sea + The Neverending Story! ✨📖✨
I love the starless sea. Stories in layers. So delightful.
Very Italian of me and not sure if someone else has suggested it already, but Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler is the most meta about books, genres and readers! I think you would love it (any of Calvino’s books are amazing) ❤
it's so strange and amazing to hear that you're only discovering Bradbury now. as someone who grew up reading his Martian Chronicles and Dandellion Wine and ended up buying almost the full set of collected works over the years, it is so puzzling (yet not unexpected) to see someone not knowing much about him - but surprising as it is, I'm just very happy to hear that there's now one more person in the world who appreciates his stories, and I hope that you still find more that you enjoy.
I want to recommend a web comic instead of a book - Namesake by Isabelle Melançon and Megan Lavey-Heaton. The story is about namesakes - people who have the same names as book characters and can therefore travel to the worlds they're namesakes of. It is also a story of making your own fate, writing, creating and recycling of stories, and muses and shadows. I am so in love with it.
I used to work at a new and used bookstore chain in the US. A big part of the business model was buying ‘remainders’ from publishing houses. These were the unsold books. We’d get them for about 60 cents a copy, and would sell them at a discounted price of $5-$15. That sounds like it would be hugely profitable but often they were damaged and we didn’t know what the titles were going to be until we opened the gaylord (I kid you not, that is what the box is called that bulk books come in. It’s the size of a pallet cubed). Anyway this one time we got a whole gaylord of We Need to Talk about Kevin, and I’m not even sure if all the copies sold by the time I left a few years later.
Also regarding the cost of book production, be very wary of cookbooks and large format non-fiction, usually craft books and home design, that sort of thing. Many of them are produced in South East Asia using wood from virgin forests. These are fragile ecosystems. So look at where the book is manufactured (it’s sadly cheaper, ocean shipping included, to use this source instead of recycled pulp or farmed wood).
Thanks for the additional information and it's good to know that at least some books reached readers.
I discovered you today and OMG how am I just finding you?!!! I'm am a ridiculous life-long book lover and collector AND I started sewing clothes (on a budget!) during the pandemic!
So surprised and happy to see The Reader of the 6.27 being first on this list. I read the French version, which has a drab, sad blank cover, and I really love the English cover (though it makes it look like a Holiday book when it's very much about commuting and the boredom of our everyday routine). It's a great quaint book, and indeed a very short read.
The city of dreaming books (Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher) by Walter Moers is a german fantasy epic all about a dinosaur author who travels to a city of books featuring deadly books, bookhunters and living books. It's by one of the biggest german fantasy writers of the past 20 years. I'm not sure how well it translates cause I've only read it in german and his style isn't for everyone, but I really recommend checking it out! His printed books have beautiful illustrations as well.
All added to my TBR, obvs! I think you would like The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. About how the oxford dictionary was created and how the words that men didn’t agree with, were lost. It’s a beautiful historical fiction that made me cry and I still think about it a year later! Pip just released a second book, The Bookkeeper of Jericho (set in the poorer part of Oxford) about the women who made the books but were not allowed to read them. Not a sequel but the two books are set in the same era and have tiny cross over references. Right up your street i think Leena!! 💕🌼
Great recommendations. I'd recommend Miss Iceland by Audur Ava Olafsdottir. Another translated book. Loved this book, set in the 60s in Iceland about a young woman trying to become a writer and not being taken seriously because...she's female and she's beautiful. One of my favourite reads from a couple of years ago. Have got The Wife on hold atm. Looking forward to it.
Oh yes! I've read Miss Iceland twice, love it so much ❤️
Ooh! Ooh! I'm so excited that I know one. Atwood's The Blind Assassin is an overstuffed (but very compelling) book within a book story.
when i was a kid i read a book that wasnt so much books within books, but more about what about the characters who still haven't been invented? i am pretty sure it is only available in swedish but it is called "De ännu inte valda" (The ones not yet chosen) and is literally about characters that exist in a limbo waiting for the time when they will be put into stories. and i also remember them having like a museum/memorial for the super famous characters such as dragons and vampires. it really blew my mind and tickled my imagination as a kid!
Fiction - People of The Book by Geraldine Brookes is an old favourite of mine.
Non-Fiction: I love reading about bookshops, Shakespeare and Co do a fabulous book on the history of their shop. I learned so much.
I've read many of those you mention, love this topic. I have a tag called books on books that is overflowing.
In this vein, I would like to recommend the Inkheart trilogy. It's "for" middle grade readers, I think, but I certainly found it enjoyable in my late teens, and I would think it's enjoyable as an adult as well. The first book is "What if the characters in your book came to life?" The second is "What if you wound up living in the world of your book?" And the third (and a little bit the second, but it comes into more fullness in the third) is "What if you could see the things you write actually happen?" It's a great little series of books that I think anyone who loves reading can relate to.
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
is a newer book release that I think follows this path of books within books well. It’s about a girl dealing with ptsd but also involves a fairy king. I think the story could have been fleshed out more and more details added in as to why or how some things happen, but it’s still a good quick read that has an important message
I haven’t finished it yet, but if you like murder mysteries, Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz has a manuscript within a book. It’s about an editor who’s piecing together a real life mystery because of this manuscript. Don’t know if I can fully give it a stamp of approval yet, but I’m absolutely hooked by the premise and the story so far. Can’t wait to finish it :)
I was going to recommend this book. It's amazing!! Enjoy 📚❤
Wow good timing! I just put together a list of books about books for my university book club! They included The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, The Strange Library by Murakami, the Library Book by Susan Orlean (nonfiction) and The Liars Dictionary by Eley Williams, as well as a few from this list! 📖
A book that's just come out a few days ago that you might be interested in is 'Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies' by Elizabeth Winkler.
It sounds super interesting and I think it would be something you'd be into!
A little bit of the summary:
Whisking readers from London to Stratford-upon-Avon to Washington, DC, she pulls back the curtain to show how the forces of nationalism and empire, religion and mythmaking, gender and class have shaped our admiration for Shakespeare across the centuries. As she considers the writers and thinkers-from Walt Whitman to Sigmund Freud to Supreme Court justices-who have grappled with the riddle of the plays’ origins, she explores who may perhaps have been hiding behind his name. A forgotten woman? A disgraced aristocrat? A government spy? Hovering over the mystery are Shakespeare’s plays themselves, with their love for mistaken identities, disguises, and things never quite being what they seem.
I read Shadow Of The Wind years ago and loved it. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak technically counts considering the main character is a poet, and it is Brilliant. I've just started reading a biography called Dr Johnson and Mr Savage by Richard Holmes, which is about the friendship between the writer of the dictionary and self declared poet laureate/convicted murderer Richard Savage. Less than ten pages in but I am already well intrigued.
Ooohh books about books are one of my catnip niche genres! Definitely recommend "Shadow of the Wind."
I would also add "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks - a beautiful historical fiction but inspired by a true story about a rare book expert following the trail of an illuminated manuscript, and the people whose live the manuscript has come into contact with. Another fabulous book-related historical fiction is "The Dictionary of Lost Words," by Pip Williams. It's about a lexicographer who is collecting words for the first Oxford English Dictionary, and his daughter who collects words for aspects of the women's experience of life, amidst the women's suffrage movement.
Books being about books is honestly one of my favourite things, haha. I really love Death of a Bookseller, by Alice Slater, which has just released! Set in a struggling London bookshop, with two very different main character POVS, Roach and Laura. It’s so good.
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley, have you tried it? It's from 1917 and is about a woman who buys out a traveling book peddler and goes on the road. I think of it as one of those classics about books and how the right book for the right person can be life-changing. But also I haven't read it since I was a teenager, so who knows. I still have a warm feeling, though!
Love this book. The sequel, The Haunted Bookshop, is also excellent. Not a ghost story, but about the idea that authors haunt good bookshops.
I just love listening to you talk :) Such a contagious love for books
I also love „Writers and lovers” and would definitely recommend it!
The Shadow of the Wind is wonderful.
What a fun video and I love your blouse and Frida flower earrings.
I feel this is the point where I have to make sure you've come across Jill Bearup and her fantasy heroine series and book-to-be, because the meta fiction is so delightful.
I looooove 84 Charing Cross Road. Loooove it. Love Anna’s books too. Now really want to read The Wife, which I’ve had on my shelves for ages, and The Assembly of the Severed Head which I had never heard of. You should definitely read Shadow of the Wind… I still think of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books.
Love the art for these countdown sequences
Love this video! Read a few already, and found some new recommendations. I'd like to suggest these two:
- The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury (translated from French): a girl finds her calling when she realises she can match books perfectly to their readers. A cute book about a girl in love with books, a reclusive bookseller, and the power that books can have;
- The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa (translated from Japanese): while Rintaro deals with the death of his grandfather, he discovers a talking cat in his bookshop. The cat urges Rintaro to help him on his mission to save books. Almost written like a fairytale (perhaps also suitable for children), a heart-warming story about books and booklovers.
I loved this, your energy is fab! Deffo got a few new ones for my tbr here! Xx
I highly recommend My Salinger Year! Also, I worked briefly as an editor at a large publishing house and once all the junior editors went on a warehouse tour and we found out about pulping and I remember wondering why they don't just give the books to people who would like to read but can't afford to buy books
The reading list and 84 Charing Cross Road both killed me 😭 so so good.
I adore some of these and have added to my reading list thanks!
I love The Invisible Library series and also Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books. Oh and The Library of the Unwritten.
lovely books! some of my favourite works of metafiction and book books are a tale for the time being by Ruth ozeki (please don't be put off by the book of form and emptiness - this is truly such a masterpiece, plus was used for English coursework at my college) and how to be both by Ali smith ❤❤❤ cannot recommend these two enough
I loved The Sentence. I have read a couple on this list, my favorite being 84 Charing Cross Road. I love books about books and bookish things. Added so much to my already very long TBR. thank you ❤
How about The Book of Form and Emptiness?
I have a collection on the audiobook site called 'books as characters' :D
The Little Library Mysteries by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli are quite good. One of the characters is an author and quite eccentric, plus little libraries and a librarian as other characters.
The Magical Bookshop Mystery Series by Amanda Flower is one where the family's bookshop helps solve mysteries by giving books to the family to help give them clues as to whodunit
Magic ex Libris by Jim C Hines lets you live out (in a way) the dream of being able to pull things out of books and use them. Books gain magic through the collective belief of the readers of a particular edition so libriomancers carry a lot of books with them while on duty (or work in libraries).
These are my favorites in that list :)
For metafiction, I strongly recommend Poison by Chris Wooding (2003). It's a dark fairytale about a girl trying to rescue her baby sister who's been kidnapped by fairies. I don't want to spoil it, but it gets really into the concept of stories and storytelling (not, strictly speaking, books, sorry). In that way, it's kind of similar to the metafictional elements in the Discworld books, but leaning more towards horror than comedy. It was the first metafictional book I ever read and it blew my teenaged mind. So now it's one of those books I always want people to read! Oohh, I also just remembered The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly (2006), which also gets very meta about books and fairytales. Anyway, thanks for the book recs!
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino (translated!!). I finished this book recently, and it's about you, a reader. You find a printing error in your new book, and then go to get it replaced so you can finish it. Buuuut the replacement turns out to be a completely different book!! The whole novel from then on is about your search to find the original story you began reading.
Have you read the Starless sea? It's not the "highest shelf literary fiction", but it includes the most vibes about libraries I've read in the while.
I've added a few positions to my TBR, and I'm really curious what will you think about Farenheit 451 (it is a bit controversial, so your take might be interesting).
I enjoyed a video a lot, so I can forgive the click bait title ;)
Excellent recommendations! I’m a massive reader but I haven’t read (or even heard of) most of these books. And every single one sounds fascinating, too! I will definitely be adding all of them to my list.
Absolutely great into. Loved the zoom ins 😆
for a fun nonfiction book on books: The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness “prescribes” novels for all different ailments. very fun and i got it secondhand after someone had made their own notes in it and checked off the ones they had read. :)
I found Bambert's Book of Missing Stories in an op shop for a dollar when I was about ten and I barely remember what happens but I do remember the FEELING of it. It's so gorgeous
I've read 4 of these books (the reader on the 6:27, 84 charing, pages & co and the reading list) and gave 'the reading list' 5 stars. I would absolutely recommend it to people (check trigger warnings first ofc) who love libraries/stories and maybe struggle with a relationship to their elder relatives. One of the most dear books I've read in a while. Two book-ish book recs would be:
1. The storied life of A.J. Fikry and
2. Malamander (the legends of eerie-on-sea series)
Im so glad you added Jasper Fforde there at the end! I was about to come down to the comments and suggest it
I read The Wife on your recommendation and thought it was fascinating! I also read The Reading List last year and it made me weep. Such a lovely book. My meta book recommendation is The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles. It's fictional, but based on true events, and about the importance of books and stories especially in difficult times.
I feel the "who doesn't want to look at Amy Adams for a full day" about my tie-in Sharp Objects cover. And I'm not opposed to movie/tv covers because I really like film posters, some of them are well designed and look great (as book covers too). And it's an added bonus when you like the adaptation too (like The Haunting of Hill House, Good Omens, Sharp Objects for me)
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke is so, so good and The Archived by V.E. Schwab is another one I really enjoyed-These are geared for kids/teens, but still fun.