Recommended by you
Question: what do a 1980s science fiction book, a comical Swedish picaresque tale, an Italian novel steeped in sadness, a tough guy thriller, a history of the native peoples of North America, a teen romance, a true story about a deadly trip into the Alaskan wilderness, a vegan cook book, and a ghost story from that questionably coined category "chick lit" have in common? The answer is that all of these radically different books were recommended to me by library patrons.
People often ask librarians for book recommendations, which we happily provide. But the relationship works the other way around too — library patrons enthusiastically suggest books to library staff. If you encounter a librarian who jots the title you tell her about on a little scrap of paper and shoves it in her back pocket, that's me. When these scraps start to resemble an indoor snow storm I add them to my will-never-finish-it-in-a-lifetime-but-will-have-a-great-time-trying reading list.
Below, I offer a sampling of the books I've read based on the recommendations of library patrons. Why these books in particular? I guess it's because they remind me of a surprise package — remember those mysterious paper bags filled with treats that you blew your allowance on when you were a kid? Sometimes you'd get something really delicious, a tasty treasure. Then there were the items that were new and strange to you, that you bit down on curiously, open to the new experience. And once in a while there was something you really didn't like, but you ate it anyway.
There's a fiction book on this list that I loved. And a non-fiction book that got into my dreams. And, to be honest, there were a couple of books I didn't like, but I finished anyway. Thank you for all your recommendations. I like to explore outside the borders of my reading comfort zone once in a while, even if I don't always like what I find there. Sometimes I stumble across treasure that way. What's really interesting to me is that all of these books are treasure to someone. It just goes to show, we are not all the same. Vive la différence! Please keep the recommendations coming!
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A huge thank you to the man who recommended this — I loved it! Downbelow station won'the Hugo award (for science fiction) in 1982. It's impossible to give an adequate description of this big novel in so small a space, so I'll just give you some keywords: extraterrestrial colonization, trade, interstellar war, ambition, political intrigue, assassination, desperation, hairy aliens, and a big, fascinating cast of characters. The novel suggests that when humanity begins to colonize other worlds, we won't just bring the better part of our nature with us — our demons will be along for the ride too. |
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American holocast: Columbus and the conquest of the New World is about the catastrophic impact Europeans had on the indigenous population of the Americas beginning in 1492. According to the author, ninety-five percent of the Native American population perished as a result of contact with Europeans, not only because of exposure to disease the indigenous peoples were defenceless against but also because of “purposeful genocide.” Though disturbing to read at times, this is an important piece of scholarship written in crystal clear prose. |
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The true account of a young man, Christopher McCandless, who sets out to ramble through America right after graduating from college. He leaves behind family, car, cash – all the trappings of a conventional life – and disappears into the wilderness of Alaska. Into the wild was a fascinating, compelling read. I liked it so much, I plan to read it again one day. An excellent recommendation from a young man. |
| Thanks to the teenager who recommended The fault in our stars, a heart wrenching book about two very sick teenagers who fall in love. Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters are delightful characters to spend some of your precious life with (and reading this book will remind you of just how precious it is.) Green's description of how difficult the simple act of breathing without machine support is for Hazel is so well done that for the longest time after I read this book I felt a sense of great fortune when I took a deep, unimpeded breath. |  |
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The library patron who recommended this book to me was so enthusiastic about it, she got it from the shelf and put it in my hands. I haven't read it — it's a cookbook, after all — but I've turned every page, oggled the pictures, and made note of recipes to try. (The black bean burgers look heavenly.) Thanks for recommending this beautiful new cook book, Isa does it: amazingly easy, wildly delicious vegan recipes for every day of the week. |
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“Giordano's deeply touching debut novel immediately thrusts the reader into the lives of two individuals, at the moment when each of their young lives takes a sharp turn toward painful solitude: Alice has been crippled in a childhood skiing accident, Mattia is consumed by guilt after playing an unintended but key role in his twin sister's disappearance. Upon meeting in their early teens, they develop a frequently uncomfortable yet enveloping friendship.” (Book List Review.) Physicist Paolo Giordano's The solitude of prime numbers won'the Premio Strega, Italy’s most prestigious literary award. A wonderful recommendation – I enjoyed this melancholy, beautiful book. |
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A fast paced thriller that grabbed my attention from the first page. Lee Child’s thirteenth Jack Reacher novel, Gone tomorrow, starts with a bang – our hero finds himself riding the New York subway with a woman who is a perfect match for the Israeli counterintelligence profile of a suicide bomber. The knife fight between Reacher and two women, one old, and the other young, stunningly beautiful and possessing mad knife skills, was ridiculous, (Reacher is very tall and muscular) but aside from that it was a good page turner-type read. |
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The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared. One day Allan Karlsson climbs out the window of his nursing home, steals a suitcase full of cash from a young thug in a bus station, and accumulates a set of colourful friends while he flees from criminals who want their money back. His past is as interesting as his present – mostly due to his talent with explosives, he gets involved with some of the key figures of the twentieth century — Mao, Winston Churchill and Stalin, to name a few. I didn’t find this popular book quite as hilarious as many people did, but it had some good lines. My favourite: “People could do what they wanted, but Allan considered that in general it was quite unnecessary to be grumpy if you had the chance not to.” Words to live by. |
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Lara Lington, a young woman in her twenties, is haunted (but not in a scary way) by the ghost of her great aunt Sadie, who was a young woman in the 1920s. Sadie is a demanding pest of a ghost who alternates between sulking and shouting in people’s ears to manipulate them. I was rooting for Lara to hire a ghost exorcist to banish Sadie from the earthly realm forever. Not my cup of tea — but some readers find Twenties Girl fun, breezy and funny. A light, confection of a ghost story with lots of references to the roaring 1920s. |
7 thoughts on “Recommended by you”
I’m going to add most of these to my impossible to read everything list too! Here’s another one – a book of short stories by Russell Wangersly. It’s called Whirl Away. I think short stories are hard to write and it’s hard to come by really good ones. Each story in the book starts at a moment of crisis in someone’s life and unfolds from there.
Oopsie! I just realized I misspelled Russell’s last name! It’s Wangersky!
Thanks for that recommendation — that’s one more for my reading list. I love short stories. I just looked “Whirl Away” up and discovered it was on the shortlist for the 2012 Giller Prize. Nice cover — a roller coaster at sunset. (Or is it sunrise?) The Toronto Public Library has “Whirl Away” by Russell Wangersky:
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2852812&R=2852812
I would highly recommend The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen. The first of the Department Q novels. The second one is very good also, but the piece de la resistance is the third novel, A conspiracy of Faith. The core characters are refreshingly different, flawed, human, and NOT Hollywood. In the third novel, Jussi surpassed all my expectations regarding the characters and his sense of humour continued to make me laugh out loud. This book won many awards – and rightly so.
After reading your recommendation I looked up a description of this book and I was hooked — I’ll read it. For anyone who doesn’t know, “The keeper of lost causes” is crime fiction set in Denmark. This book has been described as darkly humorous and atmospheric, with a deeply flawed main character who is a detective. Here are links to the books Tracy recommends:
The keeper of lost causes:
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2778177&R=2778177
(also available in ebook, audio book and large print formats)
The absent one:
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2888788&R=2888788
(also available in ebook, audio book and large print formats)
A conspiracy of faith:
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2968845&R=2968845
(also available in ebook, audio book and large print formats)
Thanks Tracy!
A wonderful idea for a post.
A woman once recommended a book to me, describing it as, “little bit funny and a little bit sad. Just like life.” It was called Stuart: a life backwards about a young homeless man who asked the author to write his life story, but to make it as suspenseful as a Tom Clancy novel, he wanted him to start at the present and go back in time to find out what had happened to make Stuart end up the way he had. She was right – it was funny and sad, and I think about it and Stuart often.
I doubt I ever would have stumbled across this book if it hadn’t been for your recommendation. Which is why I love getting recommendations…Thanks!
Here’s a bit of the description, from the Toronto Public Library website:
“Stuart Shorter’s brief life was one of turmoil and chaos. In this remarkable book, a masterful act of biographical restoration, Alexander Masters retraces Stuart’s troubled journey. Stuart was homeless, with many of the problems this sub-section of English society display; alcoholism, drug-addiction, crime, violence. Scattered with glimpses of the author’s friendship with Stuart in the years before his death, Masters gives us Stuart’s life in reverse…Funny, despairing, uplifting, brilliantly-written, it is one of the most original biographies of recent years.”
Here’s the link, if you’d like to reserve this book:
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM251718&R=251718