Books about books analysis

At our most recent Mostly Social Book Club I mentioned how I’m drawn to books about books and that I thought the book club members were, too.

Then I said, “It would be interesting to look at the list of books we’ve read over the years and do a little analysis on that theory. I did that very thing, using ChatGPT for the analysis.

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I created a table with the books we’ve read that are of the books about books genre, along with a very short description of how books were incorporated into those books:

#	Book about books	Chosen by	How books are incorporated
1	The Memory Library	John	A library curated by a mother for her daughter; then one by the daughter for her mother
2	The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry	Suzanne	Curmudgeonly bookstore owner finds a baby on his store’s steps
3	The Little Paris Bookshop	Mary	Floating bookstore on a barge provides the exact books people need
4	The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club	Mary	Lady turns derelict building into enchanting bookshop where she starts a bookclub for needful Radcliffe co-eds
5	The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary	John	Imprisoned — and arguably mad — man helps devise entries for what becomes the OED
6	The Woman in the Library	Mary	Three interwoven narratives help unravel one woman’s murder in a library
7	The Midnight Library	Mary	Woman contemplating suicide experiences parallel-universe lives through library-shelf books
8	The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek	Sharon	A “blue-skinned” traveling librarian encounters some grateful, some not, people
9	The Personal Librarian	John	J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian rises meteorically managing his books and papers
10	The Editor	John	A new writer’s autobiographical novel is picked up by editor Jackie O.
11	The Plot	Sharon	Previously published writer gets the break he so desperately wants for his next book
12	Dewey: The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the World	Sharon	Arguably about books, but about a library, a library’s cat becomes famous around the world

Then I asked ChatGPT: “Please do an analysis of the content in the ‘Chosen by’ column and the ‘How books are incorporated’ column of this table.”

ChatGPT’s analysis of the “Chosen by” column

The books were selected by 4 individuals: John, Mary, Suzanne, and Sharon. The distribution of the 12 books selected is as follows:

• John selected 4 books.
• Mary selected 4 books.
• Sharon selected 3 books.
• Suzanne selected 1 book.

ChatGPT’s analysis of the “How books are incorporated” column

Based on the “How books are incorporated,” the commonalities in the content fall into 3 main themes:

1. Libraries, Librarians, and Bookstores as Central Settings:
• A majority of the books feature a library, a bookstore, or both, as the primary or critical location for the story’s events.
• Examples: The curated library (The Memory Library), a bookshop that serves a community (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, The Little Paris Bookshop), the establishment of a bookshop/bookclub (The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club), and a library as the setting for a mystery (The Woman in the Library).
2. Professional Roles Centered on Books:
• Many narratives focus on the lives, careers, or actions of people whose work is directly related to books and literature.
• Examples: Librarians (personal and traveling) (The Personal Librarian, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek), bookstore owners (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry), editors (The Editor), and the creation of a major literary work (The Professor and the Madman).
3. Books/Libraries as a Source of Transformation or Plot Device:
• The book or the space it inhabits is often the catalyst for the protagonist’s change or is a central, almost magical, element of the plot.
• Examples: A library that allows a woman to experience parallel lives (The Midnight Library), and a library being the subject of community focus (Dewey: The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the World).

It’s pretty amazing that ChatGPT can glean all that just from those short descriptions I provided.

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Intrigued, I did one more exercise. I’ve read a lot of books outside book club, so I repeated the exercise with a list of books about books that I read on my own:

#	Book about books	How books are incorporated
1	The Jane Austen Book Club	6 people meet monthly to discuss a Jane Austen novel whose plot mirrors relationships they are navigating
2	Hell of a Book	An African American author writes a “hell of a book,” in order to get to the heart of racism, police violence, and the hidden cost exacted upon Black Americans, and America as a whole
3	Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone	A writer who creates self-help books on writing uses this background to solve murders, treating the real-life mysteries like one of the fictional whodunits he writes about
4	The Book of Last Letters	Nurse creates a book in which potentially dying soldiers can relate “last words” to loved ones
5	Yellowface	White author steals and publishes dead Asian author’s next book
6	The Uncommon Reader	A queen, who becomes a reader late in life, becomes so passionately obsessed that her public duties begin to suffer
7	The Christmas Book Hunt	Woman wants to fulfill seriously ill great-aunt’s wish to be reunited with a long-lost hand-illustrated book from childhood
8	The Bookshop Sisterhood	4 long-time friends go through it (with each other) to open the bookstore of their dreams
9	A Very Bad Thing	A bestselling author’s disastrous past comes back to hurt her
10	The Starless Sea	A grad student discovers a mysterious book hidden in his college’s library stacks in a “frame narrative” that leads readers from a first story into one or more other stories within it
11	The Marriage Plot	A dutiful English major is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels
12	The Bookclub on Waverly Lane	A new neighborhood book club unmasks authentic lives of Stepford-wives-like women
13	The Bookstore Sisters	Bookstore-owning sisters with bad blood between them reunite to fight
14	Murder in the First Edition	Dead woman and missing $60,000 first-edition book instigate an investigation
15	The Sentence	Deceased bookstore’s most annoying customer haunts it for a year
16	The Book Woman’s Daughter	Daughter of the protagonist in the book “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” carries on her work despite a lingering ornery mule
17	The Liar’s Dictionary	A lexicographer inserts fake words, as a form of rebellion and artistic expression, into the dictionary his team is working on
18	I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf	How books are collected, used for decoration, inspire us, and treated as sacred objects
19	The Bookshop of Yesterdays	Girl inherits bookshop that holds clues to her family’s past
20	The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (and Their Muses)	Retirement-home literary legends spar, conjure up new stories, and almost magically change the lives of people around them
21	The End-of-Your-Life Book Club	Son and dying mother read together bringing them close as her life comes to a close
22	Byrd	A lover of books is living a cloistered life as a bookstore clerk

Then, I fed both tables into ChatGPT and asked it to do the same analysis on the combined set of books:

ChatGPT analysis of the “How books are incorporated” columns of both the MSBC books and John’s books read

Several common themes emerge that describe the central role books and the literary world play in the narratives:

1. Libraries, Librarians, and Bookstores as Central Settings
    

Both tables feature narratives where the physical locations and professions associated with books are the primary setting or focus of the story:

• Libraries and Librarians: The books often feature libraries as a place of mystery, transformation, or career.
  • Examples: Traveling librarians providing service (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek), historical personal librarians (The Personal Librarian), and libraries as metaphorical spaces (The Memory Library, The Midnight Library).
• Bookshops and Book Clubs: Bookstores or bookshops are settings where community is forged, life changes occur, or entrepreneurial dreams are realized.
  • Examples: The establishment of a new bookshop (The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club, The Bookshop Sisterhood), and booksellers who become central figures (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, The Little Paris Bookshop).
2. Authorship, Publishing, and the Creative Process
    

A significant number of books focus on the creation, production, and commerce of literature, involving authors, editors, and the publishing world:

• The Author’s Life: The plot revolves around the lives and consequences faced by writers, whether they are working on a thesis or dealing with the repercussions of their work.
  • Examples: A writer dealing with a disastrous past (A Very Bad Thing), an author’s struggle for social commentary (Hell of a Book), and a writer using their professional skills to solve crimes (Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone).
• Industry Intrigue: Stories highlight the darker side of the publishing world, including theft and competition.
  • Examples: An author stealing a dead peer’s manuscript (Yellowface), and a new writer being mentored by a famous editor (The Editor).
• Book Creation: Books are about the creation of specific literary works, such as dictionaries or novels.
  • Examples: The making of the Oxford English Dictionary (The Professor and the Madman).
3. The Book as a Catalyst or Plot Device
    

In many cases, a specific, unique book or the act of reading/discussing books is the catalyst for the main action, often involving a mystery or a quest:

• Quest for an Object: The narrative centers on a search for a unique or sentimental physical book.
  • Examples: The quest to find a long-lost hand-illustrated book (The Christmas Book Hunt), or the discovery of a mysterious hidden book (The Starless Sea).
• Metaphorical or Transformative Power: The books themselves have a transformative or symbolic effect on the protagonist.
  • Examples: Experiencing parallel lives through books (The Midnight Library), the queen’s passionate obsession with reading disrupting her duties (The Uncommon Reader).
• Books for Communication/Connection: Books are created or used as a vessel for communication in times of need.
  • Examples: A book created for soldiers to record their “last words” (The Book of Last Letters).
• Book Clubs and Shared Reading: Literature is used as a foundation for examining relationships and building community within a group.
  • Examples: Monthly discussions mirroring personal lives (The Jane Austen Book Club), and a neighborhood club unmasking authentic lives (The Bookclub on Waverly Lane).

What a fun and interesting exercise!

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Do you gravitate toward books about books in your reading?