Taking a novel look at librarians this Banned Books Week

Next week is more than the first new days of October and the start of spooky season, it’s perhaps a bit scarier than that-Banned Books Week(Oct. 4-10) has become seriously more relevant these past few years for sadly many good reasons.

One of the biggest battlegrounds for preserving our right to read freely lately has been our local libraries. Numerous states, such as Florida, Utah, Texas and Wisconsin, have had both bans and challenges raised against school and public libraries to keep books out of the hands of readers. 

Librarians not only have to face these censorship fights with limited resources and pressure from outside groups mounted against them, they also continue to do their daily best to provide their branches with the best services available amidst budget battles as well.

With that in mind, I thought it might be nice to highlight a few current novels that feature librarians(and library related folks) as the heroic leads that they are on and off page:

The Library Thief: This debut novel by Kuchenga Shenje is set in Manchester of 1896, where Florence is pursuing her dream of working as a bookbinder, a trade that her father was supportive of until a scandal caused her to be cast out into the streets.

Snapping up a commission meant for her father, Florence begins work at the private library of Lord Belfield, a vast collection of priceless works that could be a promising stepping stone for Florence’s career.

One day, she arrives at the library, only to find that the place has been broken into yet nothing seems to be missing. However, upon spotting a burning book in the fireplace, Florence discovers that this particular tome is the diary of the late Lady Belfield who had died under very mysterious circumstances.

Can Florence protect the books from future attacks and herself from being suspected of knowing more than she does about this tragic death?

This sounds like the start of a great new detective series and yes, bookbinders are key members of any library staff so this intriguing new book definitely belongs within this realm of reason indeed:

The Book Censor’s Library:

Bothayna Al-Essa’s novel(translated by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain) takes place in a future society where the title character is assigned to go through various literary works to strike out anything “objectionable “ by the strict standards of the government built from the remains of the Old World.

Despite taking a clinical approach to his work, the censor finds himself enchanted by the world of words and stories and seeks out others who share in this forbidden delight. He winds up diving into a hidden society of secret libraries and the book lovers that protect them at all costs. Is he willing to do the same for this new found love of reading or will sacrifices be made against his all that he holds dear?

This book has received much praise and award nominations , including a win this year from Inside Book Prize, plus comparisons to 1984 and Alice in Wonderland (quite the combo!). This definitely sounds like a must read for those who appreciate a love letter to the joys of reading and preserving literature:

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society: For something a bit more Halloween themed, our leading lady in C.M. Waggoner’s cozy mystery is Sherry Pinkwhistle, a small town librarian who lives with her cat and has a knack for solving mysteries.

While she mostly aids the local police in a quiet Miss Marple type of way, a recent string of murders proves to be more than the usual suspects type of thing. Rather, the threat appears to be supernatural in nature.

To that end, Sherry decides to set up a special squad to track down the demonic danger among them, with the likes of the local parish priest, a newcomer to town and Janine, her quirky gal pal. Can they solve the mystery and save the day before a truly awful monster mash is about to begin?

This just sounds like a combo of Murder, She Wrote and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I am so for it! Giles was a role model for librarians both then and now and any excuse to honor the memory of Anthony Stewart Head is well worth taking up:

While these and many other wonderful books about libraries and their devoted communities are great to enjoy, it’s also important to remember the hard work that real life library folk put in on a regular basis.

Even when the threat of censorship seems like a distant warning from the past, our library workers are doing all that they can to help their communities in ways big and small. A public library is something that most of us take for granted but in these times of encroaching data centers and talk of monetizing just about everything, libraries are fortresses of knowledge with librarian knights ready to defend them for us.

If you want to know more about this year’s BBW events and activities, there is a link in the first paragraph of this post to help you on your way. In the meantime, let us hold on even more firmly to our right to read and think freely in order to keep what’s left of our democracy alive: