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Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
July 10, 2008

I'm very entertained by the idea of this temporary tattoo booklet from PatinaStores.com. Their site doesn't show what the tattoos themselves look like, but Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories shows one: "I Heart Dewey Decimal System!" And xmassheep has put several in her Flickr photostream, so you can check them out there.

I doubt, though, that any of the tattoos in this booklet could be half as interesting or entertaining as the real-world booklover tattoos I've seen. Max from Where the Wild Things Are brandishes a fork on my friend Tim Scarlett's ankle. My pal Janet Potter has a beatiful ampersand on her hip. As I mentioned once before, lexicographer/editor Steve Kleineder has the phonetic alphabet chart tattooed on his back. (Not that I've seen it, mind you.)

A search for "tattoos" and "book" on Flickr yields a clever Vonnegut salute, and (holy cow!) a winner in the Connect-the-Dots category. There's also an open book, splayed pages, books on a shelf, a fiery typewriter, a reference to To Kill a Mockingbird, a tribute to Snape, Harriet the Spy (!), an ant traveling by tesseract, another ampersand fan, and (my favorite) an image adapted from the cover of Ann Fadiman's Ex Libris.

We book lovers are so attached to the objects of our passion that it make sense to me that some of us would want to wear those objects in a literal, permanent fashion. Are you one of those folks? Or do you WISH you were brave enough to be? If so tell us about your real-life book tattoos, dream-life book tattoos, or book tattoo sightings. 


Posted by Alison Morris on July 10, 2008 | Comments (13)


July 10, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
jesseja commented:

why not put temporary tattoos of book covers in new books so you could advertise what you're reading if you choose to? great marketing.




July 10, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
Reka commented:

I was a huge Nancy Drew fan as a kid, so when I went to get my first tattoo I brought in one of the original blue and orange hardcovers from the 1930s and had Nancy's silhouette, the one with the cloche had and bias-cut dress, tattooed on my arm. My favorite thing about it is that people of all ages recognize that it's Nancy and get bright-eyed as they tell me how much they love the books. I would love to get a Moomin tattoo one of these days, but I haven't really figured out what or where. My cat is called Little My, though, so perhaps that's enough.




July 10, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
maroon mouse commented:

Intruigingly enough, the owner of that connect-the-dots tattoo *works* in kids' books -- that's Colleen Venable from Roaring Brook. Proof, I think, that kids' book people really ARE the coolest....




July 10, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
Anne commented:

I have a book tattoo - Shelley Jackson published her short story 'Skin' in the form of tattoos, one word per person and I'm one of her words!




July 10, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
writeroffthelake commented:

Ahhhh...if that phonetic alphabet was a braille alphabet instead, you could read it instead of seeing it. Hummmm...maybe an idea for a character in a future novel. [Mind: make note of that!]




July 10, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
writeroffthelake commented:

I LOVE the idea of the temporary tattoos in the book covers of new books. I'd DEFINITELY wear them (yes, I have worn temp tattoos and have been looking for more), but only for the books I like. Sure beats the usual bookmark, of which I have enough of for the rest of this life time, thank you.




July 11, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
Rowena commented:

This librarian has a rose tattoo on her left shoulder- had to after reading 'Rose Tattoo'!




July 11, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
Davida commented:

I have an ex libris plate with an open book, tiny devil and pen on the inside of my bicep. The woman who did a small tattoo on my back had one of the greatest book tattoos I've seen before a since - the cover illustration from Still Life with Woodpecker on her thigh.




July 11, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
Mary commented:

Alison, you should get the hookup, as I did, from your sister-store. I bought the Illustrated Librarian tattoo book from the Brookline Booksmith. For me, that's as close as I get to permanent ink.




July 11, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
Stephanie commented:

O, I love seeing other people's book tattoos. I have several, and I ended up writing so much that I turned it into a blog entry! (Can't put in a link, but I am bookavore.)




July 11, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
Jennifer commented:

Go to the Archie McPhee site and do a search for librarian. You'll see pics of all the tattoos.




July 12, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
Kellie Olsen commented:

I have definitely toyed with the idea of getting a tattoo of Max!




July 12, 2008
In response to: Permanent Ink: Tattoos for Readers
Cover To Cover commented:

we have made temp tattoos a couple of times with the permission of artists Calef Brown and Marla Frazee, and our logo and phone. Super cute! If I were to ever get permanent ink it would be either Snowy in his space suit or Moomintroll.





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