"Calling all of my fellow reading girlies! Are your weekends best spent nestled up with a good book? Do you find yourself giddy when that new release you had on hold finally becomes available through Libby? Are you chronically updating your progress on Goodreads? If so, embrace your book-loving nature loud and proud!
As an avid reader, one of my favorite genres has always been stories about other readers. My comfort books often involve bookish jobs, where the heroine herself is a reader who usually winds up in a big city after landing her dream gig and, therefore, must deal with terrible bosses, treacherous work-life balance, and romantic rivals before finding themselves.
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Books about books come in all forms, from corny romances to powerful non-fiction works, and are written with book lovers in mind. If you’re an avid reader, this list of 19 books about books spans from stories about saving libraries to tales of writing the next bestseller and more.
Introverted librarian June Jones prefers fictional worlds to reality. While her usual weeknights are spent cozied up in her apartment reading a book, she decides to leave her comfort zone when it’s announced that the library is on the brink of closure. As she fights for funding, June becomes part of the community, makes life-long friendships, and opens herself up to the prospect of love.
If enemies-to-lovers is your trope of choice, pluck this Emily Henry book off the shelf. You won’t regret it. Book Lovers follows Nora Stephens, a workaholic literary agent whose arch nemesis, editor Charlie Lastra, happens to be in the same small town she’s visiting. What are the odds? This story is full of big-city careers and small-town charm—the hallmarks of a bookish book.
What if you could see every variation of how your life might turn out? In Matt Haig’s acclaimed novel, readers who visit a mystical library can select books that showcase different versions of their lifetime, based on specific choices. It’s a moving tale about introspection, humanity, and finding happiness.
Remember that theme I mentioned of bookish books often being about bookish jobs? Enter Must Love Books—a fun read centered around a young woman named Nora who lands her dream gig as an editorial assistant for a major book publishing company. When her days are spent ordering lunches for the team rather than perusing books, Nora takes her career into her own hands and works with author Andrew Santos to try and create the next bestseller.
In this Beauty & the Beast retelling, Izzy is a struggling editorial assistant who loves books and wants more for her career. In an attempt to get a promotion, she decides to try and reason with notoriously-difficult author Beau Towers, who can’t seem to finish his next novel. The two form an unexpected connection as Izzy begins to peel back the layers of Beau and his writings.
This whimsical story follows Marie-Jeanne, a woman with the strange ability to sense romantic matches. She ventures to charming little towns with a traveling library, uniting lovers and searching for her own soulmate. Nina George’s The Little Village of Book Lovers is a poetic journey for readers who seek an imaginative story about love and a love for books.
January is a romance writer who feels like she’s lost her groove after heartbreak. Augustus is a novelist who can’t seem to write happy endings. The two rivals become unexpected neighbors and strike up a deal to pen a new book in the other’s genre. Enjoyable beachside or under blankets on your couch, this Emily Henry novel is a worthwhile enemies-to-lovers story where books are front and center.
Romance author Kara feels burnt out between writing her next book and helping plan her best friend’s wedding. Just when things couldn’t get more stressful, her old flame, Ryan, turns up as part of the wedding party… Cue an adorable rom-com that will have you hooked from the start.
Tia Williams’ Seven Days In June chronicles the tale of two authors and former lovers who reconnect after twenty years. Their lives have changed and evolved since their passionate fling as teenagers, but both have been writing underlying messages to the other in their books over the years, respectively.
When the local library closes much to Dodie Fairisle’s dismay, she takes it upon herself to open a new little library in her sunroom. As her neighbors begin to visit and exchange books, Dodie finds new friendships in a heartwarming story about choosing one’s family.
The Paris Library follows Odile, a young woman in Nazi Germany who has lost her library and whose life has been turned upside down, and Lily, a teenager living in Montana in the 80s. Both stories explore a love for books and, as readers will find out, bear a unique connection.
Emilia Nightingale has inherited her father’s bookshop only to realize this transition is much more difficult than she imagined. As she embarks on a journey to keep the doors of Nightingale Books open, Emilia forms connections with the patrons who have found solace in the store for various reasons over the years.
Set after World War II, writer Juliet Ashton becomes enthralled with letters from a man who is part of a group deemed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Emboldened to write a book about the eclectic group and its members, Juliet is determined to visit Guernsey firsthand. Written in the form of letter correspondence, this novel is the perfect choice for book-loving readers who seek a tale of warmth and sentimentality.
This award-winning novel takes place in 1939 Germany, where Liesel Meminger discovers the power of books amidst the terror of the world around her. As Liesel becomes immersed in the world of reading, she shares these stories with her community in this powerful and moving piece of historical fiction.
Librarian Valentina Baker is freshly divorced and uncertain about what the future holds. When she receives the deed to her estranged mother’s bookshop, she also inherits family secrets, the opportunity to learn about her mother, and a fresh start.
A boy has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities. A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes. The world has never even noticed them. That’s about to change. Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.
Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Her tattered copy of Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny. But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin’s legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them—and the truth may bring them both to ruin.
Emily Allen, a librarian on Martha’s Vineyard, has always dreamed of a life of travel and adventure. So when her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan, offers her a job, Emily jumps at the opportunity. Helping Siobhan write the final book in her acclaimed series is a dream come true for Emily. If only she didn’t have to deal with Siobhan’s son, Kieran Murphy. When Siobhan’s health takes a bad turn, she’s more determined than ever to finish her novel, while Kieran tries every trick in the book to get his mother to rest. Torn between helping Siobhan find closure with her series and her own growing feelings for the mercurial Irishman, Emily will have to decide if she’s truly ready to turn a new page and figure out what lies in the next chapter.
Violet Powell is being released from prison after serving twenty-two months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest. Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed. When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore in Portland, their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways.