Books about Books

Fellow readers, why do we love so much to read books about books and reading? This category of books is so large that you could probably devote an entire year to it and never run out of reading material.

Just recently, I read three fairly short books back-to-back about books and reading—not intentionally, though. One was a book my son was reading for his high school English class (and I’m his teacher, so I read it, too). One was a mostly-forgotten classic that I was lucky to find even one copy of in my library’s catalog of nearly 5 million items. And one was an Amazon suggestion that I had first read 30 years ago.

Two are fiction; one is nonfiction. Two are delightful and charming (even laugh-out-loud funny); one is chillingly prescient. Their publication dates span fifty-three years, and reflect the tremendous changes of the early to mid-twentieth century. Here’s my take on each of these very different books, followed by a list of other books about books that I’ve loved … and a few that I haven’t.

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (1953)

This one was the classic dystopian novel on my son’s American Literature reading list. A couple of years ago in his Short Stories class, we devoted a whole week to Ray Bradbury, and it turned out to be perhaps the best week of the semester. Bradbury is an undisputed master of the short story, so I was excited to read this novel again after having read it back in my twenties. I did like it (of course, how could I not?). But I have to admit, I didn’t like it as much as his short stories. If you’ve never read Fahrenheit 451, though, it’s a must-read for cultural literacy reasons, if nothing else. And it’s always fun to see how writers in past decades thought we would succumb to technology’s inevitable takeover of our daily lives. Bradbury’s infamous TV walls in every home are in some ways very different from the phones in our pockets … and in some ways not very different at all.

Parnassus on Wheels, by Christopher Morley (1917)

As I prepared to write this post, I Googled “books about books” (to help me recall ones I’ve read previously), and Parnassus on Wheels was not on any list I saw. This is both surprising and sad, because I absolutely loved it. I’d heard about it from readers who love older books and classics in general, so I decided to check it out. My huge library system had one ancient copy, and I felt quite fortunate to have found it! Note that this book was written more than 100 years ago. Note also that people 100+ years ago didn’t always behave, speak, think, etc., like we do today. If that doesn’t bother you, if you are okay with a witty male author narrating the book in the person of a 39-year-old spinster with a strong, independent streak (for a woman of her time), then you would probably enjoy it. I found it delightful. (I’ve heard that the sequel, The Haunted Bookshop, isn’t quite as good, but I haven’t read that one yet.)

84, Charing Cross Road, by Helen Hanff (1970)

This book is epistolary nonfiction, meaning that it’s told in the form of actual letters (I love this genre, whether fiction or nonfiction). It begins in 1949 and spans 20 years of correspondence between American writer Helen Hanff and a certain London bookshop. Hanff’s letters made me literally laugh out loud, and her British bookshop friends (they do become friends) are suitably restrained and … well, British. Hanff’s reading taste leans toward the classics and makes my reading preferences look like child’s play. But readers are readers, and I felt a kinship with her on every page. Don’t be fooled, though—this very short book isn’t only about reading. It’s also about deprivation and joy in post-war England, generosity and love between near-strangers, secondary characters that tug at your heartstrings, and poignant twists of fate that prevent an actual face-to-face meeting of people who have become dear to one another. I read it in one sitting, and you probably could, too.

Now for a dozen other books about books that I’ve read and liked. Some I read many years ago, which means I can’t always vouch for everything in them or guarantee that I would still like them as much today, but I liked them all at the time. I’ll put these roughly in chronological order of how I read them:

• If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler (A postmodernist frame story; if that sounds intriguing to you, you would probably like it. I liked it back in college.)
• The Name of the Rose (a surprise bestseller back in the early ’80s)
• Matilda (a Roald Dahl children’s book; he’s quirky as usual)
• Inkheart (middle grade fiction, but really for any age)
• The Thirteenth Tale (everybody was talking about this twisty book back in 2006)
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (a sweet post-war story based on true events)
• The Book Thief (you will either love this or hate it by the second chapter or so)
• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library (middle grade fiction; I read this aloud to my son)
• When Books Went to War (nonfiction, about books for soldiers during WWII)
• Eight Perfect Murders (best if you’ve read a lot of murder mysteries)
• Cloud Cuckoo Land (I also recommended this in my post about long books)
• No Two Persons (the idea that no two people ever read the same book the same way)

(I intentionally didn’t include a certain type of book on this list—the type that’s more like a collection of personal essays on “I really love books and here are the books I love, and why.” I’ve read several of these, and they’re interesting … but honestly, I usually find myself skimming, making a list, and thinking, “This is a book that should have been a blog post.” Hence this blog post, I suppose.)

And because I’m always interested in books that people didn’t like, I’ll give my list for that, too. I didn’t care for these four books about books—although I’d be the first to tell you that many people absolutely love them (which is why I sought them out in the first place). But to each her own, right?

We readers sure love books about books, don’t we? We love to read about people who write them, read them, study them, share them, protect them, collect them, and cherish them. Sometimes I wonder, will there be books in heaven? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I remain ever hopeful that my relationship with books will somehow not end when my time on this earth is done.

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