Tattoo: Based on the book
Sometimes reading is not enough, we choose to live with them also.
About two years ago, while reading Patricia Highsmith's book Deep Water, one sentence caught my eye: "Dum non sobrius tamen non ebrius" / Be never quite sober, never quite drunk. This was the love at first sight: a brilliant tattoo idea. After a couple of months of that moment, my best friend and I walked out of the tattooist studio with matching tattoos.
I am telling you this because I know -and hope- I am not the only one. Sometimes reading is not enough, we choose to live with them also. Approximately ten years ago, I read an article about literature tattoos (I found in my note that the source was Publishers Weekly, but I couldn't find the article itself). According to that article, the most desirable literature tattoos are about Little Prince. Even the book fans (and tattoos) have a website for it. They collect photos of tattoos of the Little Prince.
For books like Little Prince, people sometimes feel uncomfortable revealing their opinions. However, the Prince himself is such a tiresome character for me because he seems impeccable, and I find it exhausting. That's why I am sorry, but the tattoo of a snake swallowing a bull is not the best choice for me (according to the article, the quotation most use for tattoos is" what is essential is invisible to the eye.”) After I post it on my blog I realized that most Google search is still about it: the Little Prince tattoo. More or less two searches for a day! Hence, today's tattoo artists are incredibly talented, so people do not have to have the same design on their bodies or the same bull.
Let's talk about other literature tattoos. Of course, fantasy literature is one of the most tattooed works because of the imagination it triggers. The Lord of the Rings (these eyes have seen the one who had the map of Middle Earth drawn on his back. I admire your pain threshold, dear), Game of Thrones, Neil Gaiman's Coraline and Sandman (Coraline is okay, but I think it takes courage to carry Sandman). But it seems Harry Potter stands out the most. Oh! There are so many figures in the book; how could it not? I mean, considering that the author was crazy enough to write a book about all the books in the book, I think none of the objects are coincidental. Deathly Hallows icon, school logos, 93/4 and more...
Still, it may be best to research before getting a tattoo. For example, let's think about another brilliant tattoo idea: a quote from The Handmaids Tale: ”nolite te bastardes carborundorum.” Oh, I can see the marvellous Latin letters on the skin. But come close: Although it translates into English as "Don't let the bastards grind you down" (still a good tattoo), it is a half-made-up phrase. It was also spoken about in universities for a while. Atwood said that this sentence was taken from a joke they made at school. If you think Atwood wrote the made-up phrase, count me in (yes, still). But this situation brought to my mind the sad drama of people who think their names are written in Japanese letters but carry entirely different things.
Other literary tattoos you may frequently encounter include A Clockwork Orange, Discworld, and Edgar Allan Poe (mostly his portrait)...
I've got my eye on tattoos with paragraphs. After Ursula, I have; a Neil Gaiman is a must.
More tattoos based on books…
My name is Burcu; I'm a tattoo addict. How about you?
Well thought topic and detail oriented points! I realized that i always thought about it, but I was never able to put them in words like this!! Now it is my turn to get one done soon!
That is what i look for🥰