Catherine Coles
Coles’ Notes
Perhaps it is narcissism, but people who love to read often love books that celebrate books. This means that you’ll find plenty of stories set against the backdrop of book-people haunts: publishing houses, bookstores and, of course, libraries. If this last example piqued your interest, read ahead to discover ten great library-set fiction and non-fiction titles available at…the library!
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig has been in the periphery of our most popular titles since its release almost one year ago. It follows a depressed woman named Nora Seed who believes her life is made up of wrong choices. She decides that the right choice is to end her existence but “between life and death there is a midnight library,” a library that contains multiple volumes of the lives she could have had if she had made different choices. With the help of the friendly librarian Mrs. Elm, Nora tries out these lives in hopes of finding one that is fulfilling.
The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis is set at the famed New York Public Library Branch on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Laura Lyons, the library superintendent’s wife, moves into the library’s private residence in 1913. Eighty years later, Laura’s granddaughter Sadie becomes curator of the library’s highly esteemed Berg Collection of rare books. Tasked with finding pieces to showcase the library’s early years for a new exhibit, Sadie jumps at the opportunity to dive into her grandmother’s history – but when her research materials begin to go missing, Sadie’s career is threatened.
Based on a true story, The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles follows a lonely teenager in 1980s that befriends an elderly neighbor. Lily soon discovers that new friend Odile was a librarian at the American Library in Paris who joined the Resistance when the Nazis arrived. What enfolds is a moving historical novel told using parallel narratives.
In The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, English bride Alice Wright volunteers for Eleanor Roosevelt’s new travelling library in small-town Kentucky, joining a group of independent women whose commitment to their job transforms the community and their relationships.
If rough and tumble Appalachian libraries interest you, there is also The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. This novel follows Cussy Mary Carter, who has a rare hereditary condition that causes blue skin. A member of the Pack Horse Library Project, she braves the hardships of Kentucky’s Great Depression and hostile community discrimination to bring the joy of reading to her neighbours.
Another travelling librarian novel, but this one with elements of suspense, romance, and Christian overtones is The Librarian of Boone’s Hollow by Kim Vogel Saywer. It also follows a woman who delivers books on horseback to the superstitious coal-mining communities of Depression-era Kentucky. In doing so, she bonds with a local man who has been shunned for pursuing an education.
Taking things back to modern times, there is The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai. It follows Lucy, a children’s librarian who routinely gives her favourite patron, 10-year-old Ian, books that do not conform to the rigid rules of his overbearing, fundamentalist mother. When Ian’s parents force him to attend behaviour-modification classes that will “cure” his burgeoning homosexuality, Ian decides to run away — and Lucy decides to accompany him.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean is a great choice for non-fiction readers who love their library. It details the investigation of the fire that devastated the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986 and evolves into a page-turning history of the immense impact libraries and books have had throughout time.
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict is a new book that tells the fascinating true story of Belle da Costa Greene. Hired in 1905, Belle boldly oversaw J. P. Morgan’s world-class collection of rare books and became the financier’s most trusted confidante. Although she was a powerful figure who brushed shoulders with New York’s elite, Belle was keeping a secret – she was a white-passing African-American woman.
If you are looking for something a bit more fantastical, The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman is packed with world-building, suspense, and magic. It follows Irene, who was born and raised in a mysterious library and now works as a spy for the organization. Harvesting fiction from multiple realities that the Library has access to, she is sent on a mission to an alternate London to retrieve a dangerous book — and failure means certain death.
All of these titles can be reserved from your branch of the County of Lennox & Addington Libraries or online at CountyLibrary.ca.