“My recharge button is reading.”

Reading this book of stories from librarians and booksellers felt like attending a giant conference and having conversations with a diverse group of readers. Except I didn’t have to travel or deal with my introversion related anxieties. I enjoyed the experience and getting to know more about the lives of people who are on the front lines of book sharing. 

Sometimes the writing (by real people) and tense chosen (don’t like the present tense for past events - historic present) was an obstacle and caused me to pause and re-read the sentence again. But overall this was a good reading experience and I think it’s courageous for people to tell their stories. 

The collection was organized in to 5 parts - playing detective, talking about books, not having books in our lives, loving to read (anything), and just one more chapter - all relatable topics to a reader. 

Here is a list of my favorite essays (for my own reference later):

Lynn Greene (bookseller)

Diego Sandoval Hernandez (librarian)

Mike Bursaw (bookseller)

Elaine Petrocelli (bookseller)

Suzanne Lucey (bookseller)

David Lucey (bookseller)

Dena Heilik (librarian)

Mara Zonderman (librarian)

Bill Kelly (librarian)

Janice Turneville (bookseller)

Bob Wells (bookseller)

Thank you to all the people who shared their true stories of the magic of reading. It was fun to read and to consider the importance of reading in my own life.