The post I wrote last week about non-fiction books about books seemed to strike a chord with many people… It turns out (surprise!) there are plenty of us in the bookish community who love books about books!
This week, I thought I’d turn my focus to fiction – loads of the replies I got last week talked about people’s favourite stories set in the worlds of libraries and bookshops, or featuring writers and stories within stories.
Without any further ado, here are some great novels set in the world of books. As is usual with me, there is a distinct Victorian/murder mystery theme, but plenty of others too!
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‘The Reader on the 6.27’ by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent (translated from French)
This is the first book in absolute years that I read in one sitting!
It’s the story of a man who works for a company that pulps unwanted books, much to his horror. He takes stray pages from the pulping machine and reads them aloud to commuters on the 6.27 train every morning. One day he finds a memory stick containing private diaries and his life is due to be changed forever.
This book is absolutely gorgeous and charming – the main characters (Guylian and Julie) are lovely, there are some brilliant and very funny supporting characters and the whole thing is uplifting and sweet. Highly recommended!
‘The Journal of Dora Damage’ by Belinda Starling
This was a debut (and only) novel by a writer who is sadly no longer with us – I would genuinely have loved to see what else she had up her sleeve after this one.
I picked this up in a charity shop purely because it had a pretty cover, featured Victorians (yes, my obsession) and was about bookbinders. This is easily one of the best charity shop purchases I’ve ever made!
The book is about a woman who is married to a bookbinder and has to take over his business when he becomes ill. To make ends meet, she gets embroiled with some rather unsavoury aristocratic characters and takes up binding pornography, while also becoming involved with an apprentice in the business.
What I loved about this book was the strong and resourceful women in what was clearly a man’s world. This book was full of unexpected elements and felt really fresh and interesting – plus the setting was beautifully imagined and written. It really is a surprising and engaging read.
‘Magpie Murders’ by Anthony Horowitz
Let me just say up front – I did enjoy this book, but it was odd…
The novel is essentially two books in one. Firstly, there is the ‘fictional’ murder mystery, ‘Magpie Murders’, written by Alan Conway and featuring his celebrated detective Atticus Pund. Secondly, there is the investigation into Alan Conway’s own death by a publishing executive who is involved in the publication of ‘Magpie Murders’. The two narratives are linked as the fictional story supposedly contains clues to its author’s murder.
Confused yet? I was intrigued as to how this premise could work. How could a story give clues about its creator’s death since they were obviously writing it when very much alive!? The answer lies in the book’s structure – we get the Atticus Pund mystery nearly in its entirety before the discovery that the final chapters are missing. The publishing executive then embarks on a quest to find the missing pages, uncovering clues as she goes.
Both of the narratives are pleasing, full of shady characters, red herrings and plenty of hidden motives. What is a bit strange is that we get the publisher’s views on the Pund book, which essentially boils down to Horowitz critiquing his own story. Clever or a bit weird?
Overall, I would recommend this to people who love cosy crime fiction – there’s no real tragedy or graphic forensic detail here, which I think is positive. However, readers have to be prepared to stick with the two narratives – with all their quirks and flabby bits – as the payoff is ultimately satisfying.
Horowitz has since published other crime books for adults and his latest – ‘Moonflower Murders’ – is a follow-on to ‘Magpie Murders’.
‘An Expert in Murder’ by Nicola Upson
This is the first book in an engaging historical crime series that feature the crime writer Josephine Tey as the main protagonist. Her writing (crime novels and plays) form the backdrop to these books as she takes on the role of detective with her friend, Chief Inspector Archie Penrose.
This first book in the series, centring around a production run of Tey’s play ‘Richard of Bordeaux’, isn’t the strongest of the series but is worth reading as it establishes the characters in this semi-fictional 1930s world. There are some real gems later in the series – ‘Nine Lessons’ in particular is absolutely fantastic.
An engaging series in which a writer takes centre stage – excellent!
‘The Little Paris Bookshop’ by Nina George
This is a beautifully written story about a man, Jean Perdu, who has lost 21 years of his life mourning a relationship in which his partner (who was married to someone else) left him. On hearing news of her death, he decides to travel to meet her husband and discover more of her life story.
It’s also a book about bibliotherapy, an idea I love! Perdu runs a bookshop from a boat on the Seine and ‘prescribes’ books to people. What a great way to explore the power of literature!
Overall, this is a charming story with some lovely touches – the eccentric residents of Perdu’s house in Paris are a treat!
‘Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore’ by Matthew Sullivan
Lydia works at the Bright Ideas Bookshop in Denver surrounded by BookFrogs, the collection of quirky and tragic figures drawn to the warmth, security and comfort of the store. She is hiding her own tragic past, but the bookshop is somewhere that people don’t ask questions. Until Joey, a young BookFrog, kills himself in the store and Lydia is drawn into investigating her own past and the events that occurred 20 years before.
This is an inventive and compelling murder mystery, but it’s also much more than that. It’s also an exploration of human relationships and the psychology of trauma, but is so cleverly and skilfully done that you just keep turning the pages to find out what happens next. The characters are realistic and it is easy to get caught up in their lives. My only criticism – and this is a personal thing – is that it is quite bleak in places.
Highly recommended for those who like contemporary crime novels, although be warned that there is nothing cosy about this mystery.
‘Murder on the Eiffel Tower’ by Claude Izner (translated from French)
This is the first book in a series featuring Parisian bookseller Victor Legris as the investigator of a number of murders.
As with the Nicola Upson series described above, the first book isn’t the strongest of the series but it is worth a read to immerse yourself in Victor’s late nineteenth-century world. The murders are page-turning and the settings are just fabulous – the Eiffel Tower, the Pere-Lachaise cemetery, Montmartre. Plus, there’s a bookshop as a focal point…
‘The Bookish Life of Nina Hill’ by Abbi Waxman
This one was shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2020.
Nina Hill works in a bookshop in a quirky area of Los Angeles. She’s happy with her life, with its pub quiz fixtures, cinema trips and plenty of time scheduled for reading. In fact, Nina prefers books to people and is quite content sharing her life with Phil, her cat. However, her life changes forever when she gets the news that her absent father has died, leaving her a bequest and a big, complicated family to deal with. A handsome quiz rival further pushes Nina to question her attitude to life.
This is a jolly, light-hearted book – although Nina suffers from anxiety, it’s not all doom and gloom and there is the sense that nothing truly awful will happen. It’s cosy, escapist fiction and I think it should be appreciated as such – I enjoyed it, read it quickly and it left me feeling happy. Surely then it’s met its objectives!
‘Flaubert’s Parrot’ by Julian Barnes
A book ostensibly about Flaubert wouldn’t be a hit with me, although I did read Flaubert’s ‘Madame Bovary’ at university and remember liking it. However, in Barnes’ hands, this becomes the story of obsession as scholar Geoffrey Braithwaite grapples with life and love through his Flaubert fixation. On the way, we learn a lot about the great French writer.
This – while tackling some big issues about life and art – is readable, funny and full of in-jokes for anyone who knows ‘Madame Bovary’.
‘The Truth’ by Terry Pratchett
Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know that I’m not a massive fantasy fan. However, I can easily make an exception for the witty, wise and wonderful Terry Pratchett.
The Librarian at Unseen University (an orang-utan, for those uninitiated into Pratchett’s Discworld series) would make this list on his own merits, but instead I’ve chosen the fabulous ‘The Truth’.
It’s about writers – in this case journalists – and the introduction of the printing press to Discworld by William de Worde. As someone who unwittingly introduces the first newspaper to Discworld, he then has to deal with the can of worms he has unleashed! With its exploration of ‘fake news’ and the power of publication, this (written in 2000) feels like it really should be having its moment now.
OK, so journalism isn’t quite books, but printing is absolutely on message for this list and this book is so hilarious that I hope you forgive me wandering a little from the brief!
It is also worth mentioning some books that I’ve already featured on the blog. These would absolutely belong on this kind of list, but I thought it was cheating to feature them again when there were so many books I haven’t talked about!
- ‘Eight Detectives’ by Alex Pavesi – crime novel delving into the tricks of crime novels! A clever debut and reviewed here.
- ‘Shadowplay’ by Joseph O’Connor – brilliant novel about Bram Stoker writing Dracula during his time as manager of the Lyceum Theatre in a vividly-drawn Victorian/Edwardian world – reviewed here.
- ‘The Binding’ by Bridget Collins – a fantastic novel about an apprentice to a bookbinder who learns the dark and mystical secrets of the trade – reviewed as part of my ’10 Brilliant Historical Novels You Should Read’ here.
- ‘Swan Song’ by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott – a fictionalised account of Truman Capote’s life and relationships with the women he called his ‘swans’ (but ultimately betrayed in his writing). Interesting stuff and reviewed again as part of my ’10 Brilliant Historical Novels You Should Read’ here.
- ‘A Theatre for Dreamers’ by Polly Samson – gloriously sun-drenched novel about a community of artists and writers (including Leonard Cohen and Charmian Clift) living on the Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s. I reviewed the audiobook here.
- ‘The Postscript Murders’ by Elly Griffiths – cosy, twisty mystery about the death of a ‘murder consultant’ to crime writers. Reviewed here.
- ‘Frankissstein’ by Jeanette Winterson – excellent modern retelling of Frankenstein with an AI twist, interspersed with scenes of Mary Shelley writing the original novel. Reviewed here.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my list – please do recommend me more books about bookshops, libraries and writers!
