Books that love books

One of the things that any bibliophile likes best is a book about books. Whether it features a magical bookstore, a vast library, an eccentric author or even a gentle satire of literary tropes, the author's love for books and the world that they contain radiate off of every page.

“The Invisible Library” (2014) by Genevieve Cogman is a delightfully funny, marvelously creative steampunk-influenced adventure. Its heroine, Irene, is an agent for the mysterious Library, which retrieves endangered books from different dimensions. Irene is sent to a dangerous dimension, where steam-powered machinery and chaos-spreading supernatural creatures exist side by side, to rescue a book, only to find that it's already been stolen. Cogman creates two fully developed and fascinating worlds: the immense Library and the dimension to which Irene is sent. Each is packed with telling details and cleverly inserted bits of background information. Irene is a character ready to face the challenges of her world, always ready with a clever quip and an even more clever plan to get herself out of trouble. Her mysterious assistant, Kai, is the perfect foil for both her wit and her sense of adventure, and he also happens to be hiding a secret that makes for a dazzling plot addition. “The Invisible Library” has a little bit of everything a reader could want: books, adventure and plenty of banter.

“Ink and Bone” (2015), by Rachel Caine, also features an all-powerful library, and though it technically qualifies as young adult fiction, it can be enjoyed easily by readers of all ages. It imagines a world where the Great Library of Alexandria had never burned down and instead acquired a monopoly over knowledge that it is willing to do anything to keep. The novel follows Jess, the son of book smugglers, as he goes through training at the Library and attempts to uncover its secrets. Male protagonists are rare in this genre, but Jess both has a realistic voice and defies the usual male stereotypes, emerging as a well-rounded and sympathetic main character driven by his love of books. Moreover, Caine writes fluid, engaging prose that develops the novel's world without ever just dumping information on the reader -- it makes the pages practically fly by. The plot is fast paced and massively entertaining, as it leaps from the library headquarters in Egypt to the war-torn countryside of Wales to a high-speed train traveling through the desert, and I've been yearning for the sequel ever since I read this book.

Finally, Jasper Fforde's “The Eyre Affair” (2003) is a clever literary mystery and an engaging, quick read. In a world where the entire population of Great Britain is passionately invested in literature, detective Thursday Next must investigate the disappearances of classic characters from the pages of their books. This book is an English major's dream, packed with sly literary references like the Baconists, who go from door to door trying to convince the general public that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare but rather that Francis Bacon was the true Bard. If you've ever been torn between a mystery and a classic, “The Eyre Affair” may be your perfect match.