Books about books and reading are always welcomed in the library, so when I heard about The thirteenth tale, I was looking forward to reading it, especially when I saw many library customers checking it out.

I wasn’t disappointed. After I started reading, I felt, like Margaret Lea the protagonist,“…For at eight o’clock the world came to an end. It was reading time.” I wanted to drop everything and read until I finished.

A reclusive writer and the sheltered only-child raised by a bookseller are brought together by a missing story. Books and reading are given their due as a worthy life’s work in this atmospheric tale.

From the beginning there are twists and turns as the heroine discovers more about the revered, elusive author, Vida Winter, and the missing tale in her book. I was left wanting to know more about Margaret, the teller of the story, however, and I was never completely satisfied.

Here are some other books about books and reading that library staff and I have enjoyed recently. Please share your favorites, too and let me know what you thought of The thirteenth tale.

Camel Bookmobile Masha Hamilton

Special Topics in Calamity Physics Marisha Pessl

Ex Libris: Confessions of a common reader Anne Fadiman

Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The secret of lost things Sheridan Hay

The mobile library Ian Sansom