In recent years a large number of books of fiction -often bestsellers- based on the theme of books and libraries have been published. By contrast, in many other works this theme has been used as a deep investigation by authors that around books have built their entire lives.
The article examines three of these authors (the Italian literary critic Ezio Raimondi, the German-language writers Elias Canetti and Thomas Bernhard), analyzing both the autobiographical and the literary aspects of their works.