Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish back in June 2010. It is currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and, as is stated on the blog, it was “born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.”

Hello, readers! It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday and this week we have a freebie. The theme was Genre Freebie, so we get to build our lists around whatever genre we’re feeling. I feel like I maaaaybe cheated a little bit, but I decided to build a list around one of my favorite things: books about books! My list contains ten fiction books that have some kind of bookish element. There are five that I’ve already read and enjoyed and five that I haven’t read yet, but are definitely on my TBR!

Alright, with all that said, let’s jump into the list 😃

Click on the cover to go to the associated Goodreads page

Books I’ve Read

• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: I mean, there was no way my first five star read of the year wasn’t going to make it onto this list! There are literal snippets from books owned by the characters scattered throughout this story. It’s a beautiful tale that transports you into an underground library with a long, tragic history. I loved it so much!
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke: I read this book ages ago and I have yet to continue the series, for some reason. I loved this story about a man who can literally read things into being! One day, as he reads a story to his daughter, Meggie, an evil ruler pops out and things get sticky from there. This was such a fun book and I really need to pick up the rest of the series.
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield: Uuuuugh, I loved this book! It was so Gothic and it played with my emotions in the best of ways. It’s the tale of a reclusive author who finally decides to tell her life story to a reporter. Our reporter knows of the author’s previous twelve stories but soon learns of the possible existence of a mysterious thirteenth tale. It’s so interesting following her investigation and her relationship with the author.
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón: Another Gothic tale that follows a young man, Daniel Sempere, and his experience with the works of a mysterious writer, Julian Carax. I picked this book up on a whim and absolutely fell in love. It was a gorgeous story and I want to continue this series, as well!
• Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine: The start to one of my favorite series that looks at what the world might have been like if the Great Library of Alexandria was never burned to the ground. It’s fast-paced and thrilling and the rest of the series is just as good! Well… I still have to read the last book but then it will be over. I don’t want it to be over!

Books I Want To Read

• The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins: I read an excerpt of this on BookishFirst and it was just so magical! It’s about a young woman who can hear the thoughts of books and her attempt to save her sleepy hometown of Dove Pond. I really want to read this book because, if I can judge by the excerpt, I’m going to absolutely love it.
• Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan: This one has been on my TBR for ages and it’s honestly criminal that I haven’t read it yet. This is the story of Clay Jannon and his strange experiences within the titular bookstore. It sounds like it’s going to be a weird and whimsical read and I am ready!
• The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith: A story about Hell’s library? Sign me up! It just seems like such a unique concept: a corner of Hell reserved especially for unfinished stories where the stories and their characters have to be tended by librarians trained to contain them. I can only imagine what kind of hellspawn could spring from someone’s half-formed story. I’m definitely looking forward to picking this one up.
• The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry: Another book that involves characters escaping from books, but these characters are climbing out of classic novels. Charley has the strange ability to pull characters from books, but he’s gone most of his life trying his best to ignore it. Unfortunately, when literary characters start roaming the city and threatening mayhem, Charley and his reluctant brother need to figure out what is going on. I’ve heard so many great things about this book and I’m sure I would love it!
• The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin: In this book, we’re dropped into another bookstore, owned by a man who is at his lowest. A.J. Fikry’s wife just died, his bookstore is doing poorly, and his most prized book has been stolen. But then a mysterious package arrives and A.J. Fikry’s life starts to change. This seems like it’s going to be a bit of a character study, which I am most definitely okay with. I do love a character-driven story 💕

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Another TTT down! Did you participate this week? Are there any books you would add to this list? Let me know in the comments!

And, as always, happy reading!