What Books Inspire the Most Tattoos!?

Jan 29, 2012

Just for the fun of it, Publishers Weekly set out to answer this question and came up with a list of the five books that have inspired the most tattoos. Here’s their list of literary tats along with some visuals. Read more, and get links to all of the images at publishersweekly.com.

5.  Fight Club by Chuck Palahnuik

What seems to most elevate Fight Club as a tattoo choice is the story’s counterculture message and its promotion of the individual, two considerations always at the forefront of the tattoo-minded’s mind.

4. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Most of the Prince tattoos you’ll find are of the Prince himself, with variations of this design inked onto the back or flank being the most popular. Certainly Saint-Exupéry’s watercolor illustrations in the book naturally lend themselves to tattoos, but it’s the book’s themes of loneliness, being true to yourself, and the appreciation of the world’s wonder and beauty that make it so popular.

3. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

A search of the archives turns up an equal number of Wild Things tattoos and Max tattoos, almost every one citing how they loved the book as a child.

2. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Alice has inspired the most varied collection of tattoos of any book. Its wide cast of characters, quotes and images are all represented: the Cheshire Cat, the Dodo, the White Rabbit, and the Caterpillar all have fans out there.

1. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Alice may have a higher volume of tattoos, but the single most popular book-inspired tattoo is, by far, “So it goes,” the mantra from Vonnegut’s most famous book.

 What was the inspiration for yours?