Book lists galore

What kind of work do librarians do from home? We plan summer reading (it’s online, but still awesome), keep in touch with colleagues, stay current on book reviews and publisher news, take professional development webinars (and share notes, of course – librarians are all about sharing), host virtual storytimes, suggest fun STEAM activities, and make lots and LOTS of book lists. Here are a few I’ve put together for our library:

For kids

Indoor bowling (the activity idea was mine; the book list was compiled by my colleague)
Remembering Tomie DePaola
Simple Machines…and Rube Goldberg Machines (a STEAM activity and short book list)
Diverse Middle Grade Books (middle grade =/= middle school; it’s more like grades 4-6)
Audiobooks for the Whole Family
More to come!

For adults

I also hosted a virtual book chat, which was about the same as the in-person ones I’ve done, attendance-wise (i.e. not crowded), but we discussed a LOT of books! The complete list of titles and authors is below, sorted by genre. I had prepared a list of new novels and nonfiction, all published in 2020, but we ended up talking about plenty of older titles as well as new ones.

Covers: The Starless Sea, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Glass Hotel, Rodham, A Good Neighborhood, Voyage of Mercy

Books Discussed in the Book Chat, Friday, May 8, 2020, 1pm

Literary Fiction
A Good Neighborhood by Therese Ann Fowler
American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Normal People by Sally Rooney  (author of Conversations with Friends)
Ann Patchett (any!)
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The Language of Flowers and We Never Asked for Wings  by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow  (Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennet)
Gold by Chris Cleave (novel, London 2012 Olympics, love triangle)
Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green  (YA)
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano

Speculative Fiction (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Dystopia)
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. McGuin
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (first in a trilogy, all three have been published)
Martha Wells series of novellas (Murderbot Diaries; Murderbot books have “sarcastic tone, funny” )
Seanan McGuire, Wayward Children series (Every Heart A Doorway, etc.)
The Age of Miracles  and The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz (time travel, history, feminist)
Crosstalk by Connie Willis
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (novella – short, poignant, with a twist)
Shirley Jackson (We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Haunting of Hill House  “The Lottery”)
Stephen King
The Changeling, Victor LaValle
Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe  by  Charles Yu

Romance
Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Historical
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave (set during the Blitz, three main characters)

Thriller/Suspense
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Nonfiction
Voyage of Mercy, Stephen Puleo (author of Dark Tide)
Peabody Sisters  by Megan Marshall
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner (if you liked Downton Abbey, etc.)
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson  (well written, a lot of research; author of  Dead Wake, Devil in the White City)
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker (family/mental health)
The Lost Family by Libby Copeland
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer

We also talked about how our reading habits and tastes have shifted (or not) during this time. Many of my reader friends and colleagues find themselves unable to concentrate on new titles, and have turned to re-reading old favorite books, listening to audiobooks, or picking up short stories, essays, or humor; others continue their reading as usual. Either way, you’re not alone. Donalyn Miller wrote “Reading Joy in the Time of Coronavirus” for School Library Journal (April 10, 2020) and Sarah Wendell (of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books) wrote “For A Lot of Book Lovers, Rereading Old Favorites Is the Only Reading They Can Manage at the Moment” for the Washington Post (May 2, 2020).

My reading habits have stayed pretty much the same, and I’ve even read some “pandemic” or pandemic-adjacent fiction: Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean and Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I’d highly recommend both, but your mileage may vary – it may be that reading about the Black Plague (or the “blue sickness”) isn’t your cup of tea right now, and that’s okay!