The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians - by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann

 

Well, I could hardly resist this one!

This was the first James Patterson book I ever read. I do not know if I will read others, but I did thoroughly enjoy this one. I read this out loud to my Geographer husband and he couldn't help but make a map of all the places mentioned. The ones we've visited are in re(a)d - you see what I did there? 

On a recent trip to Maryland to visit family we took the opportunity to stop at Thunder Road Books (New Jersey) and RJ Julia Booksellers (Connecticut).

The best thing I learned from this was that the Barnes & Nobel store closest to our house allows dogs. What could we do but put our hound in the car and head over!

Here's our book-loving dog smiling in front of the David Sedaris display. She was named for his alter-ego in the Santaland Diaries

In a world of book banning gloom and doom the essays in this work bring a sense of joy. Each short essay profiles a different person who works in the world of books and loves recommending books to others. 

Dealing with Dragons - by Patricia Wrede

 

Princess Cimorene has never been interested in the traditional proper behaviors expected of those in her station. She is especially not interested in the arranged marriage her parents have planned for her. Although they have selected a handsome prince, he is a bit dull and Cimorene doesn't want to marry in any case. She goes off to live with the dragons and offers to serve the dragon Kazul. Although she has many offers from knights and princes to "rescue" her she thwarts them all.

Kazul's private library is a mess, and Cimorene takes care to organize it. She also does research in the library to find a fireproofing spell for herself. Ultimately she is given the title King's Cook and Librarian and lives happily ever after.

One of the sixty books about dragons I'm reading during this year of the dragon in which I turned sixty.

The Dragon in the Library - by Louie Stowell

Every library has a dragon sleeping underneath it. The dragon needs stories and quiet to keep it asleep lest it awaken and wreak havoc upon the world. It is also true that all librarians are wizards and are in charge of keeping the dragon in its dream state.

Young Kit discovers that she is a wizard when she meets Faith Braithwaite, Head Librarian of the Chatsworth Library "a boring-looking concrete building with automatic doors that didn't work right..."

I had some concerns with some of the things in this book:

In one passage Faith tells Kit and her friends that there are certain books that they keep away from the general public "because they're dangerous...[they] have power even if you're not a wizard". She goes on to explain that they can change you into a marshmallow if you're not careful, but frankly it just sounds like good old censorship to me. Dangerous books indeed!

In another Faith asks Kit and her friends to help shelve some books: 

"You just need to match the number on the spine to the number on one of the shelves. There's a list of where you'll find each number, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it quickly". Right, because everyone knows that there is no reason to train people who work in libraries how to properly shelve books. Sheesh.

Faith also asks Kit to do story time, even though Kit doesn't like to read out loud. Kit in fact does a crappy job of it. Well, she just needs to practice. Story time takes more preparation than simply picking up a book and reading it to a group of kids. It's takes planning. At the very least we'd expect that the person conducting the story time had read the book at least one time before! 

Librarians may not be wizards, but we are trained professionals.

One of the sixty books about dragons I'm reading for the year of the dragon in which I turned sixty.

The Librarianist - by Patrick deWitt

Bob Comet is a retired librarian who lives in a mint house. I also am a retired librarian who lives in a mint house (or at least I will once the renovations are done). Beyond this the character in this novel and I don't have much in common. 

deWitt's book reminds me a bit of Anne Tyler's books. There is a lot of description of what happens in the life of the characters, but we don't get a lot of insight into how they processed their experiences. There isn't even much about Bob's library work, although we do learn why he became interested in it. The only passage I marked was this unfortunate description of Bob's boss

Never has there been a librarian less inclined, less suitable to represent the limitless glory of the language arts than Miss Ogilvie. She cared not at all for literacy or the perpetuation of any one school or author, and Bob never one saw her take up a book for pleasure. Her function, as she saw it, was to maintain the sacred nonnoise of the library environment. "What these people do with the silence is beyond my purview," Miss Ogilivie told Bob. "But silence they shall have." The human voice, when presented above the level of a whisper, invigorated her with what could be named a plain hate...

I picked this book up at Thunder Road Books in New Jersey during a recent road trip to Maryland. This bookstore is profiled in The Secret Life of Booksellers and Librarians (which I will be blogging about soon, once my husband and I have finished reading it together).