Books about Books

Hello all. For March our theme will be “Books about Books”. That is to say, stories that revolve around, or have heavy emphasis on, books and their impact on the plot. Perhaps the characters come in possession of book with magical powers, or a book plays a central plot device that drives the story forward. Or the character just really really like reading/writing books. 😜

As always below are some suggestions/examples from either members or I took from goodreads, however YOU ARE NOT LIMITED TO THESE. Read what you wish, however strictly or loosely it fits the theme and come along and tell us what you thought about it and whether you'd recommend.

Some examples

• The Neverending Story (1979), by Michael Ende – a bullied boy skips school to read a fantasy book where the characters within are aware he's reading their story. Has been recommended heavily by past members who lambasted the changes made in the 1984 movie 😜
• Misery (1987), by Stephen King – psychological horror about an author held hostage by an insane fan of his books.
• Cal (1990), by Isaac Asimov – a short story for those tight on time, a robot owned by a detective fiction author wants to become a writer himself. Published as part of the “Gold” short story collection in 1995. I thought it timely given the rise of AI threatening so many jobs in the creative sector.
• Tony and Susan (1993), by Austin Wright – a woman reads a manuscript for a murder thriller sent to her from her ex-husband. It was recommended by a group member, and google says has a cult following.
• The Book Thief (2005), by Markus Zusak – award winning story about a bookworm living in Nazi Germany who is sent to the country during WW2. Death narrates her life story.
• The End of Mr. Y (2008), by Scarlett Thomas – A student researches a cursed book which allows her access to an alternative dimension made of thought and consciousness. (I read this years ago and didn't like it, but I'm in the minority as it won a lot of awards, so you may like)
• Station Eleven (2014), by Emily St John Mandel – a woman living in a world where a pandemic has killed off most of the population. She remembers little of post-flu world outside of what's depicted in an old comic book series called Station Eleven.
• A Natural History of Dragons (2014), by Marie Brennan – a series I never get tired of recommending, the 5 volume long Lady Trent is an autobiography of a dragon naturalist in a fantasy world similar our Victorian Age but where dragons exist. Book 1, The Natural History of Dragons, also takes its name from the in-story book which inspired her to become a dragonologist.
• The Starless Sea (2019), by Erin Morgenstern – from Goodreads description, this seems like a modern version of Neverending Story – a university student finds a book in a library of a fantasy realm that seems to be aware he's reading it.
• A Deadly Eduction (2020), by Naomi Novik – another series we never get tired of recommending in this group about a girl trapped in a monster infested magic school, where only a quarter of students are expected to survive to graduation. A bit like how Biblo came across a ring in The Hobbit that became the central focus of The Lord of the Rings, in book 1 our protagonist gets hold of a magic book that becomes the central McGuffin of the third and final book (The Golden Enclaves).
• The Cat Who Saved Books (2021), by Sosuke Natsukawa – a teenage boy starts skipping school after inheriting his grandfather's bookshop and a talking cat.
• The Book that Wouldn't Burn (2023), by Mark Lawrence – five children in a fantasy world from different backgrounds are raised together in an immense inescapable library.