Rating:

61 Cut-and-Paste Essays

Author: James Patterson

I was so excited for The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, imagining another heart-felt, well researched, and inspired version of Susan Orlean’s forever touching The Library Book. I got the Audible version so I could read through the 61 separate testimonials in time to run our book club and lead the discussion, but I also went ahead and dropped $20 on the hardcover, because clearly, I’d want to revisit this book repeatedly, right?

Wrong, sadly. I tried so very hard to love this little misfit collection of samey stories, but I just couldn’t. It began well enough: describing the passion for reading and love of books that is so dear and familiar to the bookworm’s soul, whether you find yourself in the book business or not. But after about three repeat stories of that . . . it gets old. Ok, you love books. So do we. That’s why we’re here, but what about these secret lives? What goes on behind that dusty bookstore counter and what everyday glories and tragedies do librarians (who also hold a role akin to researcher, social worker, and teacher) encounter everyday as they are confronted by the wide-ranging needs of a community: from the care of homeless people to helping teach people how to file their tax returns? There is no secret to the passion for reading in these careers, so why are the narratives stuck in a sentimental loop? Where are the triumphs and tragedies, the behind-the-scenes gritty reality of a career dedicated to knowledge?

Honestly, these glimpses past the rose-tinted first discovery of a fun story are few and far between. There is the super memorable and excellent testimonial from one man who runs the library at Rikers and is bringing books to prisoners, helping them grow and expand their world and education, and there are some impassioned testimonials against censorship, but mostly it’s same-old-same-old.

Each three-to-four-page blip has the same cadence: books good, James Patterson is the best most brilliant best-est ever, and let me drop some more names of other great people. It’s pandering and not of the subtle kind. It’s no secret why each excerpt was selected: probably because of the paragraphs praising Patterson. But what about the life of booksellers and librarians?

Image by David Holtzer from Pixabay

All the booksellers are from big Barnes and Noble type places, missing out on a huge quadrant of booksellers. What about the independents? What about the small stores? What about those used bookstores with the smell of memories and past joys, little treasures hidden in out-of-the-way corners of the city? Also, what about the people who tried and failed? It must be hard to be a book seller – or have any career in a world when you can get whatever you want from one click of the computer mouse. But here, it’s all sunshine and rainbows. Probably because everyone works for a mega-conglomerate and the independent bookstore and small book seller don’t get any representation.

Next, onto the librarians. Anyone who has read much about being a librarian realizes that the modern library is a knowledge center. It’s a place for books, yes, but it is also a place where people can access computers and digital media. It’s a place where the librarians keep and have learned how to administer Narcan. Where they hold classes teaching English and teaching basic skills like filling in tax forms. It’s an entire world of distilled knowledge, and a librarian is many things to many people. Yet here, it’s all love of books and nothing else. So much is missing: the heroism and the heartache. Such a valuable opportunity lost.

The only thing the book really does tackle beyond the fact that everyone goes starry eyed over reading and everyone thinks James Patterson is the second coming, is censorship. There are quite a few stories dedicated to more political topics of censorship – booksellers and librarians speaking out against removing children/teenage focused books that promote transgender or homosexual topics. But . . . what about other forms of censorship? And what about other hardships in the world of bookselling and libraries? These few stories are the only glimpses we get, and they are very narrow, very focused on the immediate issues of today (because that will sell), and very cursory.

The book is divided into sections – but they make no sense. All the stories are the same. Why are they divided into parts? Why is there not an introduction that gives us insight into why and how these particular testimonials were chosen? There is no true theme, other than that everyone loves books and Patterson, and soon even the most ardent reader becomes bored and starts counting pages.

This book had so much potential, but in the end, my expensive hardback copy ended up in my Little Free Library (no doubt to disappoint someone else), and I barely slogged through the Audible, despite how much effort they put into the production and having different voice actors read the testimonials. There is only so much you can do, after all, with a work that is more fluff than substance. My entire book club was equally disappointed. Not recommended.

 

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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