All about “Library” Books

Just as when you buy a white car--and then all of a sudden all you see everywhere are white cars--I became acutely aware of books with “library” or “librarian” in their titles once I started library school. Susan Orlean’s The Library Book came out in 2018, and was on the bestseller list for weeks. Then in 2020, there was Matt Haig’s hugely popular The Midnight Library. Was this th­­­e start of a new wave? Or have books with a version of library in their titles always been available and fashionable? I’m not sure of that answer, but while exploring these titles, I did discover different categories of “library” books.

Agatha Christie’s The Body in the Library, published in 1942, turned this otherwise peaceful space into a good setting for a crime. Murder in the library has become a common theme in “cozy mysteries” like Marty Wingate’s The Librarian Always Rings Twice and Denise Swanson’s Murder of a Stacked Librarian. Sulari Gentill’s The Woman in the Library is a new mystery thriller set in the Boston Public Library.

Many sci-fi and fantasy books use libraries as portals for answers to existential questions. Characters in The Library at Mount Char believe the library holds the power to all creation. The aforementioned The Midnight Library asks, “How will I know if I’ve made the right life choices?” Janelle Monáe’s The Memory Librarian: and Other Stories of Dirty Computer wonders who will be in control of our memories.

We have recently seen a large collection of books in which libraries are places of resistance. Often set during one of the World Wars, these books feature librarians who are fighting fascism and censorship. Titles include The War Librarian, The Paris Library, The Librarian Spy, and The Librarian of Saint-Malo. (Perhaps the authors are providing us with lessons for dealing with current challenges to democracy and literacy). Brand new to our collection in this category are The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson and The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes.

Biographies of librarians in tough situations are vehicles for stories of the human condition. A Delayed Life: The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz is one of these, as is the autobiography Reading Behind Bars: A True Story of Literature, Law, and Life as a Prison Librarian. Biographical fiction introduces us to real people such as Bella de Costa Green, who was The Personal Librarian for JP Morgan, and The Librarian of Boone’s Hollow, who delivered books on horseback during the Great Depression.

Finally, there are the titles, many humorous, describing life in the stacks. These may appeal to those of us who work in libraries as well as those who come to visit. Included in this category are A Library of Misremembered Books: When We're Searching for a Book but have Forgotten the Title by artist Marina Luz and Librarian Tales: Funny, Strange, and Inspiring Dispatches from the Stacks by William Ottens.

Do you have a favorite book with a version of “library” in its title?

- by Kathleen, Ewing Branch