15 Book Inspired Tattoos that are Literarily Incredible

What better way to profess your undying love of a character, story, or fictional world than through a tattoo? At Frostbeard, we’re all about finding new and innovative ways of bringing our favorite literary works into our lives. Be it through our book themed candles, bookish merch, or personal tattoos, literature holds a large part of our hearts.

Co-founders Roxie and Tom both have bookish tattoos, and each one tells a compelling story. Tom has a unique tattoo on his upper left arm comprised of a cat on a brick wall looking out over a crescent moon illuminated landscape. Tom’s tattoo serves to remind him of one of his favorite works of literature: Coraline, by Neil Gaiman. Roxie also has a bookish tattoo, which Tom designed himself. Roxie’s tattoo circles her upper left forearm and resembles a shelf of a bookcase, the slightly chaotic look of the books shows Roxie’s ravenous consumption of all thing literary. Keep your eyes peeled, and you may see this design popping up somewhere new in the coming months.

Tattoos are a great way of expressing your love of a piece of work, and author, genre, or an entire series. If you’re anything like us, you may be overwhelmed by choices when it comes to narrowing down your favorites. The best piece of advice to keep in mind is that there are no wrong answers when it comes to your tattoo. By getting this tattoo you’re not agreeing to only read that author’s work for the rest of time, nor are you communicating that you don’t enjoy any other genres.

Let your mind soar - your tattoo doesn’t need to reflect a book that you are currently reading; maybe you want to commemorate your favorite childhood bedtime story or a tale that helped you get through your rough period in your life. Whatever you decide on just make sure that it holds meaning to you. And now without further ado, here are 15 of our favorite book inspired tattoos.

Straight up Books

As Roxie showed with her innovative tattoo, sometimes the best way to show your literary prowess is to get a tattoo of multiple books. You can either go detailed and have the spines filled out to be some of your favorite works, or you can express your love of reading by inking on a stack of books. When designing your tattoo, you can have fun with this idea by playing around with the orientation and number of books that you want to make up your tattoo.

Quotes

Do you have a favorite line from one of your go-to reads that deeply resonates within you? Maybe it’s a character’s catchphrase or something the author said in passing. No matter the context in which you find your quote, when you find it, you’ll know. A quote destined to be your tattoo will let you know when you find it. It will happen the moment you read it among the thousands of other words in the text; you’ll be reading along when suddenly something strikes a chord down inside you. Your tattoo quote could be long and winding or it can be as simple as a single word.

Landscapes

Sometimes the worlds painted through words in our favorite novels can feel more like home than our actual homes. Often these worlds are constructed with prose detailing exotic and extraordinary landscapes. From the rolling green hills of mythical glens to the crystalline blueness of vast oceans there are plenty of magnificent landscapes to choose from when it comes time to get your tattoo.

Architecture

Along the same vein as places, certain features and pieces of architecture can immediately immerse you in your favorite story or land. From soaring castles to vast libraries, our favorite characters can be found all over from hither to yon. For some, an incredibly detailed likeness is what speaks to them and relays the feeling originally felt while reading, for others a mere outline, is enough to convey the wealth of feeling brought forth by their favorite title.

Characters

Sometimes while reading stories, you come across a character that you can connect with on a deeply personal level; in other tales, you find a character who is your complete opposite, and yet there’s something so compelling about that character that you feel an undeniable draw to their storyline. And sometimes, your favorite character can be one that you encountered early in life and then subsequently grew up with.

Find All Things Literary Inspired At Frostbeard

Whether it’s your first or your fifth, getting a new literary inspired tattoo is an exciting experience. If you're still stuck for ideas as to your next tattoo, try using one of our Book Lovers’ Candles to get your creative juices flowing. With scents from your favorite wizarding worlds, literary proprietors, and seven kingdoms our hand crafted soy candles are sure to spark a new idea for your literary tattoo.

Already have a bookish tattoo? Share a pic with us on Facebook or in the comments below!