Subject: Libraries and Bookstores
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Our reader read this book after our discussion at the previous meeting. It was found to be very interesting and a conclusion was reached that it is also about accountability and the afterlife. It impressed the reader to the point that the book was purchased for a granddaughter who would soon be a teen, as a sort of guidance.
This book is in the teen section at the Grover Beach Community Library, though all agreed it is not just for teens
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
Our heroine moved to London in 1939 and found work in a bookstore owned by a curmudgeon. It was on Paternoster Road, and the only bookstore not obliterated by the Blitz. She found he had secret boxes and in them a book that Hitler wanted destroyed in his decision to silence some voices. What else did she find? The people’s need to keep informed was kept alive by people such as these.
The Bookshop On The Corner by Jenny Colgan
This is a story of how a job was lost to computers in Scotland. All small libraries were closed and there was only a large central library. Not all could get to it, so a project was started by two women to purchase a large van, move to the country and distribute books to those who were in need. They were very literate and able to refer books to patrons. This story tells how their patronage grew and was appreciated, by those who thought outside the box.
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
This book is about three daughters of a professor of Shakespeare who were named after characters in his books, Cordelia (Cordy), Rosalind (Rose) and Bianca (Bean). Rosalind stayed home and taught math at the same school her father taught at. Bean went to New York and ran into trouble of her own making, and Cordy just screwed up. They return ‘home’ when their mother develops cancer. They describe their relationship as “See, we love each other, we just don’t like each other much” and “all problems can be solved by a Library.” How does the Library do it?
-Fran Strausser