Fellow childhood book nerd here! How I would have loved to have been the librarian's assistant. I remember going to the Mall of Memphis with my family, and while my parents and brother did their roaming I would sit myself in the B. Dalton Booksellers in the aisle with the Baby-Sitters Club and Sweet Valley books. Everyone who worked there knew me and kept an eye on me, and I would happily sit surrounded by my book friends until a family member came to retrieve me. Your mother [my fellow Veena!] / grandfather said it best — I always have a book with me wherever I go, and I am so rarely ever lonely.
Of your list, I have read and also thoroughly enjoyed Stay True, The Dutch House, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which I agree is one of the best contemporary novels I have read in a long time. Hilary Mantel has been on my list to read for years so I'll move her up, and I've just added The Rose Code to my Libby queue. Thank you as always for sharing your words and also for sharing this great list :)
Fellow childhood book nerd here! How I would have loved to have been the librarian's assistant. I remember going to the Mall of Memphis with my family, and while my parents and brother did their roaming I would sit myself in the B. Dalton Booksellers in the aisle with the Baby-Sitters Club and Sweet Valley books. Everyone who worked there knew me and kept an eye on me, and I would happily sit surrounded by my book friends until a family member came to retrieve me. Your mother [my fellow Veena!] / grandfather said it best — I always have a book with me wherever I go, and I am so rarely ever lonely.
Of your list, I have read and also thoroughly enjoyed Stay True, The Dutch House, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which I agree is one of the best contemporary novels I have read in a long time. Hilary Mantel has been on my list to read for years so I'll move her up, and I've just added The Rose Code to my Libby queue. Thank you as always for sharing your words and also for sharing this great list :)