The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading (Heroes Among Us, 4)
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
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Community Reviews
This book was okay. I can’t tell if these were personal essays that were submitted for publication, or if the booksellers and librarians shared their accounts with James Patterson and Matt Eversman, who then compiled them for the book. I would be interested to know how the stories were gathered, and wish that was explained in the book’s introduction. I have mixed feelings on the content. I really enjoyed and resonated with what some of the librarians shared about their field as that is the field I am in also. However, this book is full of musings that become repetitive after a while. I can’t say that I am shocked, because book lovers are all cut from the same cloth - but I can only read the statement “I’ve loved books since I was a child so it make sense I work with books!” so many times without getting bored despite sharing that sentiment. The most compelling story was Martha Hickson’s and I wish there were more like this. But my biggest “wtf” is HOW OFTEN JAMES PATTERSON PLUGS HIMSELF IN THIS BOOK. I admire Patterson’s advocacy for librarians and booksellers but damn, homeboy REALLY writes about how delightful he was at book signings. I just think that is weird.