Having friends who are readers means that I am constantly getting fabulous recommendations for new books to read. My Facebook and Instagram feeds are constant inspiration for my TBR list. This past week, my friend Autumn posted “ My fellow book nerds (bibliophiles if you prefer) you need to read this, especially if you enjoy useless knowledge, have ever worked in a bookstore, enjoy clever banter, oh and of course a little romance. It is well worth every moment of missed sleep. Enjoy!” Except for the bit about the bookstore, that’s all me (I worked in an independent record store all through college). I was off to Audible to download The Bookish Life of Nina Hill (by author Abbi Waxman) moments later. This sounded like a book written especially for me!

Nina Lee Hill felt like a kindred spirit from the first chapter - trivia junkie? Check. Anxiety? Check. A sarcastic, know-it-all, only child of a physically and emotionally distant parent? Check. Check. Check. I was locked in and rooting for our heroine before I knew what a ride she was about to take me on. Nina works for a long-lived, but faltering independent bookstore (I imagined Charleston’s Taylor Books everytime Knight’s Books was mentioned). Shortly after readers meet Nina, she finds out the father she never knew has died and she is in his will. Soon, Nina is hearing from siblings and other family she never imagined; but not everyone is happy about the new addition to the family. Nina shows off her skills as a trivia goddess, meets a guy, screws up here and there... I don’t want to spoil anything else for you.

After reading all about Nina Hill, I started thinking about some of my favorite titles that center around bookstores and libraries - I thought I’d share!

The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenenegger

This book follows the unusual love story of Henry deTamble - a librarian at Chicago’s Newberry Library - and Clare Abshire - a sculptor. When the two meet in the Newberry, it is Henry’s first time meeting Clare, but Clare has known Henry since she was a very small girl. Henry has a genetic disorder which causes him to jump through time, anchored to events within his own life’s timeline. Henry often visits himself as a younger man, teaching himself various essential skills that make survival easier as he jumps through time. After meeting Clare and falling in love with her, his timeline and hers become intertwined. Henry gives Clare a book of dates and times that he will appear to her, and essentials like food and clothes he will need whenever he visits her. While he can track the jumps he makes to Clare, he cannot control them which often results in dangerous and disastrous appearances throughout time.

This novel is filled with beautiful details describing Clare’s art, the library where Henry works, their favorite Thai restaurant (an establishment with my favorite restaurant name in literature - Beau Thai), and Henry’s love of the band The Violent Femmes. Niffenegger is both an author and an artist, she described the worlds of Clare and Henry so perfectly for me that made it clearly visible to my mind’s eye. It certainly helped that I’ve visited Chicago more than a few times and was able to clerarly visualize many of the scenes. This is one of my favorite novels to recommend, and I’ve loaned my copy out more athn a few times.

The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern

The Starless Sea takes place in a world located deep underground. Within the harbors along the vast shores of the sea are ancient libraries protected by members of a priesthood. The worlds above and below are connected only by passages connected by doors painted onto walls. As a boy, Zachary Rollins finds one of these painted doors, but he doesn’t open it. Later, while doing his graduate studies in Vermont, Zachary finds a book that tells the tale of the day he left that door alone. He follows clues and symbols to a masquerade dance in New York City. He recognizes symbols at the masquerade that lead him throughout the city in search of books that lead him closer and closer to the door that will lead him to world of the Starless Sea.

Many of the libraries on the Sea’s shores are in a state of decay, and so much of the knowledge held within is in danger of being lost forever to the waves. Three woman - Mirabel, Allegra, and Dorian assist him in his mission to discover his own story and to preserve the knowledge held within the libraries deep below ground. Morgenstern peppers Zachary’s journey with flashes of fairy tales, and vignettes from the lives of other book characters. This rich tale is also full of literary symbols which are left largely to the interpretation of the reader. The Starless Sea is a gorgeous allegory for the changing state of knowledge and learning, without being heavy-handed or demonizing modern society’s shift to digital information. Again, the imagery and symbols in this book left my mind swirling with images of keys, swords, bees, and hares. I’m looking forward to a re-read of this one soon, to better solidify the ethereal images left in my mind.

Inkheart - Cornelia Funke

This YA novel weaves the tale of Meggie and her father Mo - a bookbinder with a peculiar talent. Mo can bring the characters from a book to life by reading aloud from a book’s pages. Unfortunately, when Mo brings villain Capricorn and his goons to life, Meggie’s mother disappears into the pages in their stead. Meggie, Mo, and Elinor (Meggie’s aunt) must rescue Meggie’s mother while also fighting the evil Capricorn. Chapters throughout Inkheart are prefaced with quotes from other classic children’s novels, often foreshadowing the challenges Meggie and her family must face.

Some younger readers might be put off buy Inkheart’s length or by the intensity of the villains’ brutality; but older children who are true budding bibliophiles will enjoy its leisurely pace as well as its connection to familiar favorite reads from earlier childhood.

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore - Matthew J. Sullivan

I haven’t read this one yet, but since I’m on a bookish book kick, I’ve moved this book to the top of my stack. This is the review of the book from The Tattered Cover (where the author worked for a while):

“When a bookshop patron commits suicide, his favorite store clerk must unravel the puzzle he left behind in this fiendishly clever debut novel from an award-winning short story writer.

Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs—the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves.

But when Joey Molina, a young, beguiling BookFrog, kills himself in the bookstore’s upper room, Lydia’s life comes unglued. Always Joey’s favorite bookseller, Lydia has been bequeathed his meager worldly possessions. Trinkets and books; the detritus of a lonely, uncared for man. But when Lydia flips through his books she finds them defaced in ways both disturbing and inexplicable. They reveal the psyche of a young man on the verge of an emotional reckoning. And they seem to contain a hidden message. What did Joey know? And what does it have to do with Lydia?

As Lydia untangles the mystery of Joey’s suicide, she unearths a long buried memory from her own violent childhood. Details from that one bloody night begin to circle back. Her distant father returns to the fold, along with an obsessive local cop, and the Hammerman, a murderer who came into Lydia’s life long ago and, as she soon discovers, never completely left. Bedazzling, addictive, and wildly clever, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a heart-pounding mystery that perfectly captures the intellect and eccentricity of the bookstore milieu and will keep you guessing until the very last page.”

I can’t wait to dig in!