The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians (Audiobook) by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann: BTS of the Book Connecting Scene

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians:
Their Stories Are Better Than the Bestsellers

by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann; Read by: Tom Force, Nancy Peterson, Jenn Lee, Jennifer Pickens, Amy Jensen, Deanna Anthony, Jane Oppenheimer, Susan Hanfield, Marni Penning, Daniel Henning, Rob Reider

DETAILS:
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Publication Date: April 8, 2024
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 7 hrs., 55 min. 
Read Date: April 14-16, 2024

My favorite thing is helping people. Handing someone a book with the power to change their lives is magical because, oftentimes, it does.

What’s The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians About?

Typically, when I just use the Publisher’s Description, it’s because I’ve floundered around and can’t come up with a description that I like or because I just don’t care enough about the book to put the effort into it. this time, however, it’s because I really like the way that this copywriter put it (and maybe I’m a little worried that I’d end up plagarizing it a bit if I tried):

To be a bookseller or librarian…

You have to play detective.

Be a treasure hunter. A matchmaker. An advocate. A visionary.

A person who creates “book joy” by pulling a book from a shelf, handing it to someone and saying, “You’ve got to read this. You’re going to love it.”

Step inside The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians and enter a world where you can feed your curiosities, discover new voices, find whatever you want or require. This place has the magic of rainbows and unicorns, but it’s also a business. The book business.

Meet the smart and talented people who live between the pages—and who can’t wait to help you find your next favorite book.

Overly-Romanticized?

Yes, I think so. Now, were you to ask me if I cared, I’d give you a big fat “no.”

Many librarians—public or school—in the book were involved in the recent efforts to restrict access to certain books. Something that’s important, to be true. And some of them had suffered because of it—but listening to this felt sanitized.

The booksellers, on the other hand, particularly those who owned/worked in independent stores didn’t seem to suffer or have many hardships. I mean, the bookstore in The Bookish Life of Nina Hill had a harder go of it than most of these. I know the point of this book isn’t to be a no-flinching look at the hard times involved in bookselling (you can look at things like Shaun Bythell’s or Oliver Darkshire’s books for the grimmer-side).

This book is designed to be a celebration of those people who’ve devoted their professional lives to connecting people with books—for a variety of reasons. So, sure, it doesn’t tell the whole story, just the good parts. And frankly, that’s entertaining enough—and given a lot of the dark tales that could be told about librarians and booksellers right now, I’m willing to settle for just the good bits while we can.

How Was the Narration?

It was really well done—if you just take a glance at the credits of the narrators, you can understand why. I’m not sure which narrator did which part of the book, nor am I sure how often I heard the same narrator reading different chapters—I honestly couldn’t tell. I call that a win in my book—they convincingly embued each bookseller or librarian with just the right amount of personality that I might as well have been listening to recorded interviews with the individuals behind the stories.

So, what did I think about The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians?

I figured this would be a pleasant book, but I didn’t expect much beyond that. I’m pleased to have been wrong.

This is an inspiring and entertaining look at the people who connect others with the books they want or need—whether they realize they want or need them or not. For a booklover, this is great to hear. They sound like what you want them to sound like.

The big problem with this book is that you’re going to fight the impulse to quit your job and go get your MLS or start working as a clerk in a bookstore as soon as you finish (or by the mid-point). As downsides go, it’s a pretty tame one, but it’s there.

You’ll have a fun time with this, give it a shot.

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