8 Powerful Books About Reading, Book Shops and Libraries to Add to Your TBR List

As avid readers, we can rarely resist the appeal of fiction about reading.

We instantly attach ourselves to characters who love to read, and especially to ones who are newly discovering their appreciation for the written word.

There's nothing quite like books on books, so if you're looking for your next book shop purchase or library find, keep scrolling to discover eight delightful novels about reading, book shops and libraries.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

Book clubs have a way of bringing people together, and that's precisely what happens in Marie Bostwick's new novel, The Book Club for Troublesome Women. It follows four unhappy housewives in the '60s who are united and empowered by the release of Betty Friedan's landmark feminist book The Feminine Mystique. In a time of social and political upheaval, the book allows these women to put a name to their domestic dissatisfaction for the very first time. It's up to them to decide what they intend to do with this newfound, seemingly forbidden, understanding.

(The Book Club for Troublesome Women via Harper Muse)

 

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

Bookish and the Beast is the third novel in Ashley Poston's Once Upon a Con series, creating another fairytale retelling featuring the cast of the fictional Starfield sci-fi series and the romances that follow them. In the vein of Beauty and the Beast, this one tells the story of Rosie Thorne, a Starfield fan mourning the death of her mother, and the loss of her mom's rare Starfield books, sold to pay off hospital bills. You'd think she'd love having a chance encounter with Vance Reigns, an actor from the newest Starfield adaptation, and though she's enamored with the beautiful library in his temporary home, he lives up to his reputation as a massive jerk. After Rosie accidentally ruins one of the books, she owes Vance, big time, and wins up working for him. Soon—with a little bit of help from the library—they might discover they have more in common than they ever could have imagined.

(Bookish and the Beast via Quirk Books)

 

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

Bookshops & Bonedust is a prequel to Travis Baldree's beloved Legends & Lattes. Before Viv the orc ever aspired to open her own coffee shop, she was a mighty warrior who was injured in battle and forced to spend her time recuperating in a quaint seaside town. Bored out of her mind and eager to hop back into the fray, she instead discovers a local bookshop in major disrepair, run by the passionate but frazzled (and foul-mouthed) Ratkin, Fern. Together, they form an unreachable bond, and as Viv finds precisely the distraction she's been seeking, the two recruit some new friends to restore the shop to its former glory, all while a bigger conspiracy, related to Viv's latest adventures, bubbles in the distance.

(Bookshops & Bonedust via Tor Books)

 

Also read about: The Most Relatable Truths for Every Bookish Gal

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Markus Zuak's 2005 novel The Book Thief was made into a movie in 2013, but we highly recommend you read it first (for reasons pertaining both to this list and the subject of the book). The story begins in 1939 in Nazi Germany with the death of Liesel's brother, Werner. At his grave, she finds a book, The Gravedigger's Handbook, and steals it—thus beginning her journey as the titular book thief. She cannot read, yet, but with the help of her new foster father, Hans, she learns and quickly develops a love of books. The stealing continues, with Liesel grabbing books from everywhere from Nazi book burnings to officials' libraries, and when she discovers that Hans is harboring a Jewish man in the basement, her understanding of the world at large is tested even further.

(The Book Thief via Doubleday)

 

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

There's something quite powerful about bookshops and the stories they hold, as evidenced in Satoshi Yagisawa's Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. It follows 25-year-old Takako, who's never been much of a reader, despite the fact that her family has owned the renowned secondhand Morisaki Bookshop for generations. The place is enthusiastically run by her uncle, Satoru, and when Takako's boyfriend leaves her with plans to marry another woman, she takes up Satoru's offer to move in above the shop and help him run it. Of course, being around that many wonderful books coaxes her into the world of reading, easing her broken heart, as she discovers she has much more in common with Satoru than she initially thought.

(Days at the Morisaki Bookshop via Harper Perennial)

 

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

If you love a touch of fantasy in your stories, you'll adore Genevieve Cogman's The Invisible Library. It's the story of Irene, who despite being called a Librarian is more of a spy for the titular Invisible Library, which houses books from different realities. When Irene is sent to a different dimension's London to fetch a potentially dangerous title, she finds it's already missing, and she'll have to face off against unknown magics and deadly beasts to retrieve it, not to mention others who also know the nature of the book and want it for themselves.

(The Invisible Library via Tor Books)

 

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Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

You'll also find wondrous fantasy elements in Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. Laid-off software dev Clay thinks he's working for a typical San Francisco retailer when he takes up a job at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, but soon discovers it's anything but. Most customers buy nothing, instead borrowing strange volumes from the back of the store. Soon, this suspicious behavior catches Clay's interest and leads to him unraveling all of the bookstore's best-hidden secrets—and the maybe even the key to immortality.

(Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store via Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

 

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Chances are that you've seen the Rob Reiner classic romantic adventure comedy The Princess Bride, but before it ever hit theaters in 1987, it was a book. The William Goldman classic is an oddity, being a retelling of a fictitious book by the also fictional S. Morgenstern. As William explains, when he was a child, his dad would read him the original The Princess Bride, skipping over the boring bits to make it more interesting to his young son. As an adult, William has taken it upon himself to recreate the story, based on his dad's interpretation, to weave a thrilling tale of intrigue, romance, sword fights, quirky characters and revenge, with his asides making the "classic" story even more memorable at every turn.

(The Princess Bride via Ballantine Books)

 

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