Reading about reading is one of my favorite things to do. There’s something incredibly comforting when an author expresses your own affection for their craft on the page. It can also get very meta and spooky if that’s the direction the author takes. Either way, there’s something magical about reading, and reading about reading can take that magic to the next level. Check out some of these books that pay homage to books:
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The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold #1) by Tracy Chee- (5/5 stars) This young-adult fantasy is one of those books that takes four or five stories and manages to wrap them all together with really excellent tie-ins throughout. It’s a lot of politics and action, with some romance and magic mixed in. But what I love most about this book is how reading is conveyed as literally magical. That’s something that I’ve felt to be true for a long time, so it’s really fun to see that concept taken in a bit more literal direction. I loved the sequel and can’t wait for book three!
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak- (4/5 stars) I am not a World War Two person. As important as it is to learn about WWII, I don’t prefer reading WWII novels in my free time because it’s just so heavy, and not a particular interest of mine. But this book. This book already has a lot of critical acclaim, but I really do love it. The writing is beautiful, the story is important, and it’s a wonderful, bittersweet celebration of the way human stories touch each other, often through books and stories.
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The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield- (4/5 stars) This adult novel brings its readers deeper and deeper into the gothic genre, with tons of surprises and turns. A reclusive author who’s spent years making up stories about herself finally agrees to tell the truth as her death nears. The resulting story is a twisting, eerie tale packed full of ghosts and twins and suspicion. The haunting prose is “a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reader in all of us, a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and that we loved as children.” Overall, a really unique novel.
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Afterworlds (Afterworlds #1) by Scott Westerfield- (3/5 stars)- A slightly different take from the other books on this list, Afterworlds explores the publishing industry with the story of Darcy, a recent high school grad whose novel has been picked up by a big name publisher. Darcy moved to New York City, enters a community of writers, and tries to figure out what she wants for herself. This book made me want to take some of the ideas bouncing around my head on paper and send them to an agent stat! A cute, contemporary YA read.
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The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood #1) by Melissa Albert- (3/5 stars)- What happens when the grotesque fairytales you read as a child begin to come to life around you? Alice is about to find out when characters from the fictional Hinterland, created by her grandmother, start to interfere with her life. This one’s sort of in the same vein as The Thirteenth Tale, but young adult and with more directly established fantasy. (And also not as well written, in my opinion.) Honestly, I was a little disappointed with this one and thought the first half of the book was significantly better than the second, but I still enjoyed it.
Have you read any great books about reading?