Summer Reading, Summer Reading Lists IX
One way to look at a library is as a reading list. Collectively recommended, by a university community or by a city or town, made available, loaned and and borrowed, reshelved and sometimes lost. Plenty of people and ways to recommend titles, though interesting that some of the power of any particular libraries collection comes from its limitations: books have to be specifically chosen for the locale they’ll make their own. That’s a good thing, particularly the part about librarians offering advice about what to read. Librarian Nancy Pearl is on contract (apparently) over at NPR’s Morning Edition, where she recommends books (what a gig!). She often produces lists of “under the radar reads,” which end up looking a lot like that:
- The Diamond Lane by Karen Karbo
- The Distance by Helen Giltrow
- Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer
- The Unsubstantial Air: American Fliers in the First World War by Samuel Hynes
- Sorcery and Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
The three titles not available in ODY are at the Canton Free Library, so they’re a short walk down Park Street in fine summer weather. Happy librarying…