The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians
True Stories of the Magic of Reading
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4.5 • 11 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The world’s #1 bestselling author explores the inner lives of the people who grow and encourage our passion for reading.
“A celebration of the world of books” —Kirkus
To be a bookseller or librarian … You have to play detective. Be a treasure hunter. A matchmaker. An advocate. A visionary. A person who creates “book joy” by pulling a book from a shelf, handing it to someone and saying, “You’ve got to read this. You’re going to love it.”
“When the pandemic started, Patterson launched a movement, #SaveIndieBookstores [and] pledged half a million dollars, and, with the support of the American Booksellers Association and the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, the campaign ended up raising $1,239,595 from more than eighteen hundred donors...Somehow, the bookstore outlived the pandemic. Why? The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, compiled by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, suggests a few reasons.” —The New Yorker
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Prolific author James Patterson loves books, and in this joyous celebration of reading, he puts the spotlight on people who’ve devoted their lives to the same passion. He and co-author Matt Eversmann let sixty different people tell their own true stories of book love, from folks who helped save their local bookstores to those who help kids fall in love with reading to volunteers whose mission is bringing books into jails and prisons. We loved that Patterson and Eversmann also honor librarians who aren’t afraid to take a stand against censorship and serve their communities in other ways. Each contributor’s very real devotion to books, authors, and fellow readers shines out from every chapter. Anyone who loves the written word will delight in this sweet and inspiring collection.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Patterson and his frequent coauthor Eversmann follow up 2023's Walk the Blue Line with a lighthearted compendium of first-person reflections from librarians and booksellers about their work and passion for literature. Most entries consist of easygoing odes to reading, as when one Texas Barnes & Noble inventory specialist discusses how she loves to get young children interested in books by reading aloud to them during story time. Alexis Sky, owner of two Albany-area bookstores, describes the satisfaction she derives from getting to know customers' tastes, even going so far as to put aside new titles she thinks a regular might like until their next visit. A few more substantial entries tackle how a hostile political climate has made librarians' jobs more difficult. For instance, Texas library consultant Carolyn Foote recounts how she organized a social media campaign to push back against Texas legislators' attempts to remove books about racial diversity and gender from library shelves. However, such stories are the exception in a frothy volume largely focused on earnest if banal paeans to the written word ("Handing someone a book with the power to change their lives is magical because, oftentimes, it does," opines a Florida reference librarian). Pleasant if somewhat trite, this will be comfort food for bookworms.
