Literary Tattoos and Book Covers

So about once I week I scour the internet for pictures of literary tattoos. I've wanted a tattoo for a while now, but I'm always unsure of what I want to get. I mean, this is something that will be on my body FOREVER...and I'm pretty sure having a needle jabbed into your skin repeatedly does NOT feel great. The next question of course is WHERE do I get a tattoo? I mean, I work with small kids all day in a school. It's not like I can get a sleeve. Plus, I enjoy being unique and I want a tattoo that represents ME. Who I am, what I believe in, something that just SCREAMS "Chelle." And yeah, I need it to say Chelle, because that is who I have been. I'm not even really sure why my parents bothered to give me my full name...I mean, the only time they use it is when I am in trouble or if I have to fill out some sort of legal document. Which really, makes me wonder about nicknames and identity, but that's a whole other blog post.

Getting back on track, the question always comes down to WHAT to get permanently inked onto my body. What means enough to stay there forever. A peace sign/dove to remind myself that I should always stand against injustice? A word that represents who I think I am? A quote I love? There are so many options! So I ask myself...WHAT do I love? The answer is simple...my family (which I have no why to represent graphically) and books. But this still presents a problem. I mean, I'm a relatively small human and there have been SO MANY BOOKS that have impacted me in some way. So what do I have tattooed? A line from The Little Prince? But this raises the question of WHICH quote and even better, in English or French? So that is put on the back burner. Harry Potter...now THERE is where my heart lies. But again I am faced with questions...a quote or a symbol? Which quote? Which symbol? I find that when it comes to HP I am not really worried about originality, my love for Harry Potter isn't really that unique. I find that most people love Harry for the same reasons I do. Finally, BFF2 and I decided that we would get HP tattoos together. Not the same thing, not the same place, but she and I would be getting Harry Potter tattoos. I really want a lightning bolt on my foot, and possibly the stars that adorn the corners of the pages in the US versions of the books.

So there we go, problem solved, right? Well, not really. The problem I am faced with is this. As much as Harry has impacted my life, other books have as well, and in different ways. Maybe not as much as Harry has, but they have made an impact. The Little Prince? I don't even know how many times I have read that book. To me it says everything that needs to be said about love-not just romantic love, but every kind of love. There are so many quotes from that book that I love, beginning with the dedication and ending when I close the book. Then there is John Green. I love his books so much that I have two copies of each of them. One that I can lend out and one that is my personal copy with notes, underlined quotes and passages, and just how certain parts of the book made me feel. So, before I even have my first tattoo I am already considering another one. Crazy right? Perhaps, but I'm pretty content with that.

Obviously there is a demand for literary tattoos. There is a facebook page, a plethora of images in Google, and my personal favorite Contrariwise. But the absolute coolest thing that I found in my searching today is Penguin Ink. To celebrate their 75th anniversary, Penguin re-released six of titles and the covers were done by tattoo artists. Personally I think this is awesome, and even though I don't think I would read all of the books, I am tempted to buy them just for the awesome covers! I particularly enjoy Waiting for the Barbarians and Bridget Jones's Diary.

Okay, enough babbling. I'm off to take allergy medicine and face the day!