Calling all bookworms and bibliophiles! Check out another one of our Amazing Book Challenge categories for the year: Bookish Books.
Treat your shelf to a delightful story that features some of our favorite places — libraries and book stores! Whether you love tales of charming bookshops, daring librarians or secret spy missions among stacks of books, dive into these captivating reads that honor the charm, mystery and power of the literary world.
To see the full list of recommendations and the other book challenge categories, go to www.naperville-lib.org/ABC.
“The Bookshop Sisterhood” by Michelle Lindo-Rice
While working toward the grand opening of their Black-owned bookstore, four best friends are each told four little words that upend their lives, forcing them to lean on each other — and the books they love — to navigate the changes or risk losing the business and their friendships.
“The Library of Legends” by Janie Chang
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China, 1937: As Japanese bombs fall on Nanking, 19-year-old Hu Lian joins a university convoy fleeing west, carrying a priceless 500-year-old collection of myths called the Library of Legends. Facing hunger, danger and betrayal, Lian finds friendship and love with Liu Shaoming. But a family secret forces her to flee with Shao and a mysterious maid, Sparrow. Along the way, she discovers their link to a mythical tale and that the ancient stories may be awakening guardian spirits whose journey could change China’s fate.
“Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” by Robin Sloan
After a layoff during the Great Recession sidelines his tech career, Clay Jannon takes a job at the titular bookstore in San Francisco and soon realizes he establishment is a facade for a strange secret.
“The Library of the Unwritten” by A. J. Hackwith
In the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, unfinished books and their restless characters are kept in check by head librarian Claire. When a hero escapes his story in search of his author, Claire, her assistant Brevity and a timid demon named Leto must retrieve him. But their mission takes a dark turn when an angel attacks, believing they possess the Devil’s Bible, a powerful text that could tip the balance between Heaven, Hell and Earth.
“Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books” by Kirsten Miller
When Lula Dean, trying to rid public libraries of “pornographic” books, starts her own lending library in front of her home, Lindsay, the daughter of Lula’s arch nemesis, sneaks in nightly, secretly filling it with banned books wrapped in “wholesome” dust jackets, changing the lives of those who borrow them in unexpected ways.
“The Personal Librarian” by Marie Benedict
“The Personal Librarian” tells the true story of Belle da Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian and a powerful figure in New York’s art world. Brilliant and ambitious, Belle helped build the Morgan Library’s renowned collection while hiding a dangerous secret: she was a Black woman passing as white. Born Belle Marion Greener, daughter of civil rights pioneer Richard Greener, she risked everything to protect her identity, family and legacy in a deeply racist society.
“The Bad-ass Librarians of Timbuktu” by Joshua Hammer
Explore the true story of Abdel Kader Haidara, who rescued tens of thousands of ancient Arabic manuscripts from destruction by Al Qaeda in 2012. When militants took over Mali and threatened the priceless texts, Haidara led a daring operation to smuggle 350,000 volumes out of Timbuktu to safety, risking everything to save centuries of history.
“Book and Dagger” by Elyse Graham
Learn how World War II’s OSS recruited academics to become spies who shaped the war and modern intelligence. Drawing on diaries and declassified files, Elyse Graham tells the story of these unlikely operatives who hunted enemies, gathered secret documents and laid the groundwork for the CIA, while also transforming American academia after the war.
Ashlee Conour is the marketing specialist at Naperville Public Library.