Books in books with the same title
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1amberwitch
Any of you know of any books that mentions/ revolves about a (fictional) book with the same title as the (real) book?
I've encountered two recently:
Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind
Tim Dorsey: The Stingray Shuffle
In both cases the fictional book was written by another author than the author of the real book.
I've encountered two recently:
Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind
Tim Dorsey: The Stingray Shuffle
In both cases the fictional book was written by another author than the author of the real book.
2SimonW11
The King in Yellow is such an eponymous work .
And though it has been a while since I read it. I suspect The Book of Common Dread might contain another such certainly the maguffin is an ancient book.
And though it has been a while since I read it. I suspect The Book of Common Dread might contain another such certainly the maguffin is an ancient book.
3JM1982
how about The Neverending Story?
5liao
The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide mentions an author writing a book called The Counterfeiters.
6Kell_Smurthwaite
The Princess Bride by William Goldman.
7tobiejonzarelli
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, I really enjoyed it, I also liked The Shadow of the Wind which was already noted.
8aljazcosini
the blind assassin by margaret atwood, great stuff
9JM1982
another one is orhan pamuk's snow. the central character is a poet who writes a poem called 'snow' and later gathers a collection of poems to be published under the same title.
10Jim53
Just posted this on the message board before seeing the name of this topic. Oh well.
In Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, which is not only the finest literary SF ever but one of the finest novels, period, of the past 30 years, the protagonist brings four books to a prisoner who has requested them, having retrieved them from a library whose blind curator is supposedly based on Borges. By paying attention, we are able to deduce that one of them is entitled The Book of the New Sun. Then, of course, in the sequel, the same protagonist, who travels through time, writes The Book of the New Sun. However, this might not really be a good candidate because the book does not revolve around the Book.
In Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, which is not only the finest literary SF ever but one of the finest novels, period, of the past 30 years, the protagonist brings four books to a prisoner who has requested them, having retrieved them from a library whose blind curator is supposedly based on Borges. By paying attention, we are able to deduce that one of them is entitled The Book of the New Sun. Then, of course, in the sequel, the same protagonist, who travels through time, writes The Book of the New Sun. However, this might not really be a good candidate because the book does not revolve around the Book.
12lawgrrl07
The Thirteenth Tale is about a mysterious book called ... wait for it ... "The Thirteenth Tale".
13princemuchao
Dictionary of the Khazars by Pavic, Milorad gives Nabokov a run for his money.
14Ilithyia
On a side, but related note, how about authors who mention themselves in their books?
I haven't read it but my mother says that Stephen King's Dark Tower series, has a scene of the characters in a library that is filled with Stephen King novels. At least one of the characters happens upon his own book - I want to say Salem's Lot, though I could be wrong. Apparently Stephen King himself evens makes a guest appearance.
Also, there is a romance writer Sherrilyn Kenyon whose heroines are often reading romances written by Kinley MacGregor who is one of Kenyon's psuedonyms. I think that is quite clever.
I haven't read it but my mother says that Stephen King's Dark Tower series, has a scene of the characters in a library that is filled with Stephen King novels. At least one of the characters happens upon his own book - I want to say Salem's Lot, though I could be wrong. Apparently Stephen King himself evens makes a guest appearance.
Also, there is a romance writer Sherrilyn Kenyon whose heroines are often reading romances written by Kinley MacGregor who is one of Kenyon's psuedonyms. I think that is quite clever.
15Ilithyia
I just thought of one! It's a young adult novel, but fantastic Here, There Be Dragons: Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica. The Imaginarium Geographica is a book of maps of all the imaginary places and how to get there! I really enjoyed this book and the revelation at the end was a total surprise.
But don't go to the author's website, because he gives away the best part of the ending in the description. Of course, now that I'm looking at it, so does B&N.com. Maybe I had read it and forgot by the time I got there. Anyway, it was a surprise to me.
But don't go to the author's website, because he gives away the best part of the ending in the description. Of course, now that I'm looking at it, so does B&N.com. Maybe I had read it and forgot by the time I got there. Anyway, it was a surprise to me.
16yarb
There is a book called "Oracle Night" in Paul Auster's Oracle Night. We don't actually get to read the fictional "Oracle Night", but it's certainly a tempting premise - more so, perhaps, than the real Oracle Night.
17fikustree
Another YA authour Christopher Pike, in several books he mentions The Starlight Crystal and then he finally wrote the book towards the end of his YA career. He mentions characters and the title of The Season of Passage in several and hardly a book goes by where there isn't some mention of a plot from another book. Those are my two favorites but I am sure there others.
18sandpiper
The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas. A fabulous book, I think it's my favourite of books read this year so far. And a curious buy. I read a review of what I supposed was a new hardback in a Sunday newspaper, but when I searched for it, I found it had been released as a small press paperback before it was picked up for a major hardback release. So I got the previous edition for a bargain price. A recommended read for anyone who likes second hand bookshops, mouse gods, and time travel.
19inkdrinker
I second The End of Mr. Y. I loved that book.
20lquilter
Pat Murphy's pataphysics trilogy begins with There and Back Again by Max Merriwell ; Wild Angel by Max Merriwell as by Mary Maxwell; and Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell. Umm, the authorship strands were a little more complex than that ...
Anyway, if you are interested in pataphysics metafiction ("patafiction"?) these are well worth it.
Anyway, if you are interested in pataphysics metafiction ("patafiction"?) these are well worth it.
21VisibleGhost
I'll third The End of Mr. Y. Where else you gonna get sordid sex, philosophy, metaphysics and thought experiment access to the Matrix between the covers of one book?
22liao
I seem to recall an Irving Wallace book in which an author is being prosecuted for writing "Seven Minutes"--a very obscene novel about what passes through a particular woman's mind during sex. Irving Wallace is the author of a book called Seven Minutes. I haven't read it, so I can't say if it has the same subject matter as the fictional one.
23danellender
Codex Seraphinianus,by Luigi Serafini, is a book that is itself written in an alien language, a sort of real life example of one of Borges' fictitious books from another world. It is full of strange and wonderful drawings and takes the format of a reference work, similar to an encyclopedia.
I had to get a copy from interlibrary loan, as it was printed in a small edition.
I had to get a copy from interlibrary loan, as it was printed in a small edition.
24tom1066
The Evening Land by John Crowley contains an imaginary novel of the same name by Lord Byron. It/they is/are a very good read.
26tom1066
I just finished Paul Auster's Book of Illusions, and it contained references to a film called Travels in the Scriptorium. This, of course, is also the title of Auster's latest book, which includes characters from several of his earlier books.
For all I know (not having read all of Auster's work), there are other references to Travels in the Scriptorium elsewhere. It's a fun game he plays, creating a self-referential universe in his books.
For all I know (not having read all of Auster's work), there are other references to Travels in the Scriptorium elsewhere. It's a fun game he plays, creating a self-referential universe in his books.
27usnmm2
The book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg Is about four college buddies that find a book called "The Book Of Skulls" which tells of monastery where it is possible to obtain everlasting life. The book is about their trip to this place and their
trials once they get here.
trials once they get here.
28Medellia
If On a Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino. It's a little more complicated than just book-within-a-book. You could say that "the books within the book ARE the book" or "the search for the book within the book IS the book."
29wester
How is it possible that Tintenherz (Inkheart) has not been mentioned yet? They even get to meet the writer.
30Greenhead-Bluebeak
The Monsters of Gramercy Park by Danny Leigh follows a crime writer researching for a new book about a prisoner who is also working on a book: an allegorical, possibly coded book, called the Monsters of Gramercy Park.
JPod by Douglas Coupland fits this category in the sense that the author appears towards the end of the novel, making a bargain with the protaganist which lands Coupland with the contents of the guys laptop - and this content becomes the book JPod - which then explains the book's unconventional layout which includes flyers, pages of code, emails and random words (presumably googled words).
Neither books are great but both say something interesting about the process of writing and insinuate that authors are thieves, either heinous or naive.
JPod by Douglas Coupland fits this category in the sense that the author appears towards the end of the novel, making a bargain with the protaganist which lands Coupland with the contents of the guys laptop - and this content becomes the book JPod - which then explains the book's unconventional layout which includes flyers, pages of code, emails and random words (presumably googled words).
Neither books are great but both say something interesting about the process of writing and insinuate that authors are thieves, either heinous or naive.