Being a librarian, I am naturally drawn to books about librarians, books shops, or libraries, so why not devote a month of reading to these topics. I have always seen the importance of books and reading. I am a life long learner and I love learning new things so I naturally enjoy reading. Most of these books that I read for the month of July stressed the importance of books in society. Books not only educate and entertain, they also bring people together, broaden your knowledge of different people and cultures and help to develop empathy for others.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig was not your typical book about a library. This story starts with a girl, Nora, who is very down and she decides to take her life but instead of dying she goes to this special library at the stroke of midnight. This library contains books of all of the lives she could have lived if she had made different choices in life. When Nora was in high school, she used to go to the library when she felt down, alone, or had a difficult day coping in high school. The librarian was a friend to her. So, when Nora takes her life, her comfort place is in the form of a library. The many scenarios of what her life would have been like if she had made different choices are books in this library that she can choose and see what life would be like for her if only she had.... This is a very interesting concept to write about and to make the librarian, kind of a guardian angel is perfect. I found that many days during my job as a high school librarian I was the local "bartender" that students would come and talk to me about things or just hang out in the library when they were having a really bad day. I bonded with many students this way. I was so glad they felt they could come and talk to me when they felt like no one was listening to them or anxious. That is one aspect of my job that I do miss. I really didn't fit in anywhere when I was in high school, I had acquaintances in many groups but I never really fit in to any one group. I connected with this book as I was reading it. It is one that really makes you stop and think about the choices we make in life.
The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan is not your typical story about a quaint bookshop by the seashore run by a quiet little lady who was looking for love and met a tall handsome stranger in her shop one day. This story is set in the Scottish Highlands in an old mansion on the shores of Loch Ness. It reminds me a little bit of The Sound of Music meets Jane Eyre. Instead of a nun, the nanny is a single mum, Zoe, with a son, Hari, who will not talk. Hari's father bounces in and out of their lives. Zoe needs a fresh start, and a job, so she leaves London and answers the add for the position of nanny to 3 intelligent, yet difficult children. She also fills in for the local book seller that drives around and sells books to the locals while the owner goes on maternity leave. As Zoe leaves London with her son looking for a fresh new start, will she find her place among the locals in the Highlands? This was a charming story that I was not expecting, based on the title. Her connection with the children is very Julie Andrewsish. You will definitely keep reading to see how it ends.
The next book is more about a group of people that meet in a library rather than about the library itself. The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck was an audiobook on Libby. If you haven't used Libby which is a service provided by our local Meade County Public Library, you really should. It has lots of great ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, music, and movies you can download for free with your public library card. Five New York strangers get an invitation to the Fifth Avenue Story Society which meets in a local library. It is more of a historical library where they meet but no one knows who sent the invitations. So, the group of five decide to keep meeting and become friends. They all have lots of drama going on in their lives and as they come together weekly, they try to help each other with their problems. It was a unique idea for a story and one of the characters is writing his doctoral thesis about an author and the authenticity of his authorship of a book. So, libraries and books are mentioned in this one, but the story is more about people and having friends to support you when you are going through difficult times. Not my favorite read this month, but a quaint little story.
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd was not one of my monthly thematic books, it was my book club book, but it does mention the library in Alexandria, so it could technically fit into this month's library theme. 😁 This was a beautifully written book about the fictional story of Jesus's wife, Ana. This story is Ana's story, but the idea that she met and married Jesus was part of her story. She was a very educated woman during her time, which wasn't the norm. She was raised in a wealthy family in Sepphoris with ties to the ruler of Galilee. She is rebellious and does not wish to marry but is arranged to marry a widower who is forty plus years older than her; she is only fourteen. She enjoys writing the stories of the women during that time which tend to be forgotten or not considered important. With the help of her rebellious aunt, Yaltha, she searches for a way to fulfill her longing to record history of strong women during the time of Jesus in Nazareth. I am a big fan of Sue Monk Kidd and I really enjoy her beautiful writing. She can tell an engaging story that is meticulously researched. The description of the library in Alexandria is amazing and the depths that Ana goes to in order to keep her stories alive is truly remarkable. This one is definitely worth a read.
The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy was another surprise. This book's setting was in Ireland. A woman who found out her husband was having an affair with his assistant takes her daughter and leaves London to go back home to Ireland. She hopes to have a fresh start in her hometown. She gets the job at the local library and tries to rebuild her life. While at the library, she gets involved in a few of the local politics and decides to rebuild her great-aunt's cottage which is in need of a lot of work. Hanna renews friendships in the hometown she grew up in as she drives the mobile library van between the small villages up the west coast of Ireland. This story explains how the citizens appreciate the local library and what it offers the small villages. The locals fight for the library when it is threatened to be shut down. This was another engaging book that has a small hint of romance, but is mostly about community and supporting each other.
The Librarian of Saint-Malo by Mario Escobar is a historical fiction about a young girl who just got married in France as the German's started invading during World War II. She was barely married and the bombs started on her wedding night. Her husband had to go to war and was taken prisoner. She works at the library and tries to save the books from being destroyed by the Nazis. This story is told through letters a librarian smuggles to an author explaining about her fight to save the works at the library during the war. Her value of the written word motivates her to risk even her life to save rare books that would be lost to the world forever. This is a great account of the fearless women and men who fought to protect books and the written word from being destroyed by the Nazis during the war. I really enjoy historical fiction and this book which supports libraries and recalled historically what librarians in France had to go through fits two of my favorite categories when it comes to reading.
This was also an audiobook that I listened to on Libby which was a great help in pronouncing all of the French names and places.
The book I just finished reading was my favorite this month. The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict was the extraordinary story of a young woman, Belle, who was the personal librarian to J. P. Morgan during the early 1900's. Belle had a secret, she was really a light skinned colored person, but she lived the life of a white woman. Her mother raised her and her siblings as white since their skin tone allowed them to get away with it. Her father was a civil rights activists and disagreed with his wife. He felt she was turning her back, and teaching their children to turn their backs, on who they really were. However, she wanted her children to be successful and not be drug through racial issues that were going on at the time, some of which are still going on today. This story was engaging, it had romance and suspense as far as wondering if Belle would get caught. There was a lot of historical research done which appeased the historical fiction fan in me. This is one I finished reading in a matter of a few days. This one got five stars from me and I don't give out five stars very often. This one is very much worth checking out.
Thank you for taking time to read through my blog. I hope you find some good new reads. Also, thank you for supporting your local public library and the school libraries. A society is only as strong as it's libraries and the public's access to various works.
