The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians
Book Review: The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians
Genre: Non-Fiction
Page Count: 352
Read Date: April 2026
Score: 5/5 ⭐
Rank: Must Read
Summary:
Books are an incredibly powerful tool, but physical bookstores and libraries are equally magical. Booksellers and librarians are guides and therapists among many other roles for society - and they tell readers all about what it means to do so.
Review:
Everyone loves a good bookstore, right?
Well, I certainly do. Bookstores are one of my favorite places on earth. There truly is something magical about walking through aisles of new or used books. The sights, the smells, the feeling of the covers and heft of the tome in your hands.
Bookstores are awe inspiring and give us the opportunity to escape life or learn a new skill or connect with others over common interests. They can become a third place and for many, they absolutely are.
Libraries are similar and they provide all this for free! You can go into a library, get a card, and borrow books to your heart's content. Just make sure you return them on time.
This book highlighted just how important physical bookstores and libraries are. Sure, we can go on Amazon and buy books to our heart's content, but we can't get the intangibles that a physical location provides. And hear me out, I've bought and continue to buy plenty of books from Amazon and for my Kindle (which I love), but I also make a point to support my local bookstores as well - and often.
So much so that I have a monthly book budget.
Yes, I'm serious.
Reading the heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of these booksellers and librarians made me want to spend more time within the walls of those places. It's been too long since I've visited my local library. I go to a bookstore at least once or twice a month, but it's been well over a year since I last stepped foot in a library.
Did you know you have to have a Master's degree in Library Science to be a librarian? They are trained on how to help you find the perfect book, but also how to do research, run local kids or adult educational programs, etc. If you want to self-educate on a budget, go to the library.
Meanwhile, booksellers are so much more than book nerds who recommend what they like (though they are book nerds who happily will share what they enjoy reading if you ask), they are passionate about helping you find the best book for your needs. There were several sellers who mentioned that their favorite part of their job is helping someone who says they don't like to read and having that person come back asking for more books, because they fell in love with the previous recommendation.
That's amazing.
Books aren't dying. There was a time early in the eBook era that book lovers, such as myself, truly worried we'd lose the need for physical books due to the cheaper e-alternative. However, this book reaffirms what I already believed - physical books aren't going anywhere and that, my friends, is a wonderful thing.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. There was even a little surprise buried in it for me, because one of the booksellers highlighted own a local bookshop I used to live very close to in Wake Forest, North Carolina. If you're ever in that area, go give Page 158 Books a look. They're a wonderful local bookstore and exemplify what it means to provide excellent customer experiences tailored to the individual.
Please Read It 💡 At first I hesitated to say that this is a must read for all, but I'm so passionate about the importance of reading and supporting local bookstores, that I can't help it. There will be something for everyone to connect with and hopefully by reading it you'll want to visit your local store or library.