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The Goods

13 Beautiful Bookish Temporary Tattoos

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Patricia Elzie-Tuttle

Contributing Editor

Patricia Elzie-Tuttle is a writer, podcaster, librarian, and information fanatic who appreciates potatoes in every single one of their beautiful iterations. Patricia earned a B.A. in Creative Writing and Musical Theatre from the University of Southern California and an MLIS from San Jose State University. Her weekly newsletter, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice offers self-improvement and mental health advice, essays, and resources that pull from her experience as a queer, Black, & Filipina person existing in the world. She is also doing the same on the Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice Podcast. More of her written work can also be found in Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy edited by Kelly Jensen, and, if you’re feeling spicy, in Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 4 edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Patricia has been a Book Riot contributor since 2016 and is currently co-host of the All the Books! podcast and one of the weekly writers of the Read This Book newsletter. She lives in Oakland, CA on unceded Ohlone land with her wife and a positively alarming amount of books. Find her on her Instagram, Bluesky, and LinkTree.

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I would love to be covered in bookish tattoos, but the reality is that my wallet would not love it, and more importantly, I find it incredibly hard to decide on what I would have on my body for the rest of forever. Because of this, I only have two small tattoos (so far). Lucky for me, temporary tattoo technology seems to have increased in quality exponentially since I last got a temporary tattoo as a child. Have you seen these things?! You can get a temporary tattoo that is an entire chest piece!

As I was down the rabbit hole of temporary tattoos, I found a bunch of bookish temporary tattoos that I wanted to share. Some last only a couple days, but some of these can last up to two weeks. A real tattoo, especially a good real tattoo, is going to set you back at least a couple hundred dollars. The temporary tattoos I’ll share here are affordable fun without the commitment (and without the needles). They’re also great to slip into a greeting card for that bookish teen you know who is not yet old enough for real ink. Of course, if you’re like me, even trying to make a decision about a temporary tattoo is a monumental effort, so here are some of my favorites:

Image of person with quotation mark temporary tattoos on each of their wrists and their arms are crossed in front of their face

Small Quotation Marks Temporary Tattoos: Classic with endless possibilities! $4

Image of a person’s torso and left arm. The left arm has a quotation marks temporary tattoo

Large Quotation Marks Temporary Tattoos: Also classic, but when what you have to say is a bit bolder. $5

Image of a Game of Thrones-inspired temporary tattoo on a biceps that says “Not Today” and is underlined by a sword

Not Today Temporary Tattoo: What do we say to the god of death? $4

Image of a person’s hand with a temporary tattoo of a small dragon

Drogon Temporary Tattoo: Calling all mothers of dragons! $14

Image of a person’s arm with a temporary tattoo of Smaug the dragon on their bicep

Smaug Temporary Tattoo: I really do love this tattoo inspired by Tolkien’s dragon, Smaug $7

Image of temporary tattoo inspired by Frodo’s brooch

Frodo’s Brooch Temporary Tattoo: “Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall.” $14

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost Quote Temporary Tattoos on a person’s bicep

Tolkien Quote Temporary Tattoo: Perfect for all my fellow Tolkien-loving wanderers $5

Image of a temporary tattoo of a vintage typewriter on a person’s forearm

Typewriter Temporary Tattoo: I like this so much that I’m considering getting a permanent one $10

Image of a temporary tattoo of an open book with blank pages on a person’s outstretched wrist

Open Book Temporary Tattoo: Maybe you’re an open book or maybe your story is yet to be written $3

Image of a person’s arm with three temporary tattoos of an open book and a stack of books and a quote that says, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”

3 Book-Lover Temporary Tattoos: Can I just cover my body in book tattoos? Is that allowed? $7

Image of Auryn medallion of intertwined snakes from the Neverending Story

Auryn Temporary Tattoo: Watching the movie as an adult is a bit of a chore but the theme song still slaps $17

Image of a temporary tattoo of the words “Turn the page” and imagery of a page turning

Turn the Page Temporary Tattoo: If you’re excited to find out what’s next, just turn the page! $19

Image of large temporary tattoo of Alice falling down the rabbit hole on a person’s bicep

Alice in Wonderland Temporary Tattoo: I knew I wanted to include at least one big one and this artwork of Alice is lovely! $6