The Gift of Reading
I'll avoid any cliches about gifts that keep on giving. Instead, I'll jump straight in and admit that I, like many librarians, am an NPR nerd. I adore NPR for a number of reasons (though I will say that it was Ira Glass who first got me hooked). I also particularly enjoy their segments with librarian Nancy Pearl on book recommendations.Nancy Pearl was once-upon-a-time the Director of Library Programming at the Seattle Public Library. These days she reads and recommends books to people, on the radio and through her book series, Book Lust. She's also the only librarian I know of who has their own action figure (side-note: where are the Ranganathan pull-string toys where he recites the 5 laws of library science?).
Nancy Pearl was on Morning Edition this morning with more great recommendations, and all of them look great. There's something there for everyone, and I recommend taking a look. Don't stop there, though. While you're on the site, check out the Best Books of 2009 section. This section has numerous stories and book recommendations, including the best young adult fiction of 2009, top picks from indie booksellers, best five books to share with your friends, best gift books, and more.
And sure, it's Christmas, and maybe you'll buy some of these as gifts. Me, I like to use these lists to fill up my reserves at the local public library - something I recommend everyone try. And hey, maybe instead of giving your reader friends books for the holidays, this year you should give them a library card application instead. Because cliche or no, libraries really are gifts that keep on (and on and on and on) giving.
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Secretary of State
Steve Hobbs
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