Six Book Recommendations from Smarty Librarians

Finding Your Next Great Read

Librarians are amazing.

They welcome everyone who comes through the door, they shepherd visitors through issues and opportunities with technology, suggest community resources for those who might benefit, run story times for littles, host book clubs, maintain pristine stacks (adhering, for now, to the satisfyingly arcane Dewey Decimal System developed in the late 1900s for the nonfiction titles), and, of course, guide patrons in book searches. And that's just scratching the surface of their abilities and the services they provide.

Although my to-read list is interminably long, having an endless To Be Read list brings me cozy, safe feelings because I know I will never be paralyzed with worry regarding what I could possibly want to read next. That's why I greedily and continually search for books to add to the list, and the most exciting prospective reads jump the line to must-read-now status.

During the early months of the pandemic, I was in the mood for a solid dystopian, postapocalyptic read--although in hindsight that was an interesting impulse for mentally escaping that particular situation. Anyway, I wanted new, fresh ideas for titles in that vein that I might like. And I wanted a trusted recommendation. Then someone, somewhere online (who and where were you, wonderful stranger?) mentioned library programs in which librarians tailor book recommendations to patrons, and I was hooked on the idea. It was going to be magical! Books chosen just for me me me!

Programs like my local Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's Find Your Next Read involve answering a few questions about your tolerance for violence, rough language, and adult content; any desired time period for your book; a few titles or authors you've read and liked; a few titles or authors you've read and disliked; preferred setting (domestic or foreign); and a few other matters. After a few days you receive multiple personalized reading recommendations in an email. Voila!

(Note that there is also a Find Your Next Read request form for Young Readers and Teens.)

I found this whole process incredibly satisfying. In fact, after remembering how fun it was the last time, I just submitted another request.

If you're a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library member--or if your local library system offers a similar feature of personalized recommendations--I hope you'll give it a try!

Through Find Your Next Read, a librarian recommended the following books:

1. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers, which I later read and reviewed (it was a winner for me). Three other titles suggested to me as promising adult and young adult science fiction, fantasy, and dystopian reads were some I had already read and enjoyed, so the recommendations were spot-on:

2. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab,

3. The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey (which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels), and

4. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

5. The final two recommendations I (still) haven't yet read but plan to: The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency #1) by John Scalzi and

6. Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (which I've thought about reading for years but somehow still have not).

Have you taken part in a program like this? What did you think? And have you read any of my Book Recommendations from Smarty Librarians?

For other science fiction and fantasy books I've read and reviewed, please check out the titles at this link.