I am a known bibliophile.
I, like my favorite YA novelist John Green, think librarians are superheroes.
Now you can take with a grain of salt what I am about to say, which is:
THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY IS A PERFECT PLACE OF MYSTICAL WISHES AND DREAMS.
They have this program called “Your Next Five” where you can send a librarian an email with information about your taste in books—some books you’ve read and enjoyed, some you haven’t, your favorite and least favorite writers, your general stylistic leanings, what you’re interested in reading more of, et cetera, and they will respond with
FIVE BOOKS TAILORED TO YOUR SPECIFIC TASTES IN LITERATURE.
The above is a screen shot of my (PERSONAL) recommendation. I also received an email that included the following explanation and defense of the recommendations:
I selected the Susana Clarke book (Jonathan Strange… ) because it is brilliantly written, and has a complicated, sinuous plot. I hope you will forgive Clarke’s crotchets about 18th century spelling. Slammerkin is written by someone who focuses on beautiful prose, and the story is an interesting parallel to your book about the Hollywood Seamstress… Lionel Asbo is Amis’s most recent offering; he is a master of prose style and tells a disconcerting story of the breakup of British society (kind of like the Rowling book on your list) If you want something a little less pungent than Amis, I suggest John Mortimer—his Paradise Postponed and Titmuss Regained are leisured accounts of the same subject, the disintegration of Britain.) Joseph Heller’s book is by now a classic; the slow unfolding of middle-aged disaffection. And Sarah’s Key is the story of a gradual dawning of an awareness of long-ago terror and its consequences—and how they mark a woman long after the event. Since you like Erik Larson’s writing, you might want to look at David McCullough whose special interest is American history, or my personal favorite, John Julius Norwich, whose historical writings about Venice and the Byzantine Empire unfold those complicated stories with graceful, engaging prose.
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I don’t think I can accurately describe how jazzed I am about this. Perhaps this gif:
combined with this gif:
and a little bit of this gif:
I cannot wait to read these books. I wrote a RAVE comment on the response survey, and now I just wanted to tell all of you about this incredible service because:
1) You perhaps live in Seattle and would like to receive your OWN “Next Five”
—OR—
2) Your own local library might have a similar service that you can and should look into.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be doing nothing but reading for the next few weeks. You will not be able to get ahold of me.
Click on the photo to visit the SPL’s “Next Five Books” site. Happy reading!
