For the love of libraries and librarians
Libraries and librarians hold a special place in our hearts and collective memories. Whether it is a school library or a public library, we have a warm and special place in our past that has been filled by the smell of library books, the unceasing world of possibilities that live there, or that special librarian who always knew just what we needed to read. In the last year, these amazing individuals have come under fire and we think that it is time to shower them with love for the place that they hold in our lives. We always suggest a simple thank you as a good place to start. Our stores have post card stations to write our local libraries a quick note of appreciation, so stop by and write a card (the stamp is on us)!
We also thought we would share a number of our favorite books about libraries and librarians as an homage to those heroes who made us the book lovers that we are today. Read on!
The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore
A young librarian and an old curmudgeon forge the unlikeliest of friendships in this charming, feel-good novel about one misfit book club and the lives (and loves) it changed along the way. Books have a way of bringing even the loneliest of souls together...
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
An instant New York Times, Washington Post, and USA TODAY bestseller--based on the true story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris during World War II--The Paris Library is a moving and unforgettable " ode to the importance of libraries, books, and the human connections we find within both" (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author).
The Library Book by Susan Orleans
Susan Orlean's bestseller and New York Times Notable Book is "a sheer delight...as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local library" (USA TODAY)--a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution.
The Library of the Dead by TL Huchu
Sixth Sense meets Stranger Things in T. L. Huchu's The Library of the Dead, a sharp contemporary fantasy following a precocious and cynical teen as she explores the shadowy magical underside of modern Edinburgh. WHEN GHOSTS TALK, SHE WILL LISTEN.
The Invisible Librarian by Genevieve Cogman
Collecting books can be a dangerous prospect in this fun, time-traveling, fantasy adventure--the first in the Invisible Library series! One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction...
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around--and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared his dream chose poorly. Since he was just five years old, he's been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the form of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything--everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome's got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter. Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman's belief that books can carry us anywhere -- even back home.
Mike Munoz is a young Mexican American not too many years out of high school--and just fired from his latest gig as a lawn boy on a landscaping crew. Though he tries time and again to get his foot on the first rung of that ladder to success, he can't seem to get a break. But then things start to change for Mike, and after a raucous, jarring, and challenging trip, he finds he can finally see the future and his place in it.
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Pulitzer Prize winner and Idaho Author Anthony Doerr calls this book his "love letter to libraries". Do we really need any more than that?
The Library Spy by Madeline Martin
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London comes a moving new novel inspired by the true history of America's library spies of World War II.
New York Times-bestselling author Meg Cabot returns with a charming romance between a children's librarian and the town sheriff in the second book in the Little Bridge Island series.
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father's belongings at the New York Public Library holds an incredible, deadly secret--one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family's dark history.