Literature from Librarians: Great Reads Written by the Experts

This is a unique reading list – these books were all written by librarians and most of them were recommended to us by librarians. If any profession is well qualified to write books then librarians truly fit the bill.

Librarians are loyal customers of AbeBooks and we tend to listen when they speak. But it was interesting to see so many librarians recommend Casanova’s autobiography – were they trying to tell us something? This famous Italian adventurer and lover was a librarian in the household of the German nobleman Count Waldstein. The authors on this list range from the top dogs at America’s Library of Congress to folks who have worked at the national libraries of Argentina, France and Sweden, and people who have checked books in and out at public and school libraries.

We decided to exclude Chairman Mao and his Little Red Book. This one-time librarian at Peking University is perhaps the most widely read of all librarians who wrote but it was under extraordinary circumstances (although it is now thought that the book was ghostwritten). Our featured book (pictured at left) is Hemlock and After by Angus Wilson, illustrated by Ronald Searle, and was a bestseller in 1952. Wilson was a librarian in the British Museum.

Librarian Lit

Star Man’s Son
Andre Norton

A post-apocalyptic tale from 1952 – Norton was a librarian in Cleveland and the Library of Congress.

Books in My Baggage
Lawrence C. Powell

Clark Powell was a librarian at UCLA and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.

Jill
Philip Larkin

Larkin was a librarian at the University of Hull. Jill is a novel about life in Oxford during WWII.

A Winter’s Love
Madeleine L’Engle

L’Engle was a volunteer librarian in New York. A scarce novel about a troubled marriage.

Collected Poems
Marianne Moore

This modernist poet, noted for her wit, worked in the New York Public Library in the 1920s.

Higher Power of Lucky
Susan Patron

Patron won a Newbery Award for this children’s book. She worked at the Los Angeles Public Library.

The Feud
Thomas Berger

A novel about conflict in small town 1930s America – Berger was a librarian and journalist.

The Wild Old Wicked Man
Archibald MacLeish

MacLeish, Librarian of Congress from 1939-1944, was also a playwright, journalist, lawyer & statesman.

The Giant’s House
Elizabeth McCracken

Written by a former public librarian, this novel (about a librarian) was a National Book Award nominee.

The Mouse & the Motorcycle
Beverly Cleary

Cleary worked as a children’s librarian in Yakima, Washington, before writing children’s books.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Dee Brown

An agriculture librarian at the University of Illinois, Brown’s 1971 book remains a non-fiction classic.

Ill-Starred Captains
Anthony J. Brown

Brown was a former librarian from the State Library of South Australia.

Dr Brodie’s Report
Jorge Luis Borges

Borges was a director of Argentina’s National Public Library. This is a collection of 11 short stories.

Miss Julie
August Strindberg

Strindberg worked for eight years as an assistant librarian at Sweden’s National Library.

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Anne Tyler

This novel was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Tyler is a former librarian and bibliographer.

Out Stealing Horses
Per Petterson

An ex-librarian & a bookseller, Petterson’s novel was one of the NY Times’ books of the year in 2007.

Story of the Eye
Georges Bataille

Histoire de L’Oeil is a controversial novel from 1928. Bataille was an archivist at France’s National Library.

Vertical Poetry
Roberto Juarroz

Juarroz was head of Bibliotechnology & Informational Science at the University of Buenos Aires.

Bachelor Brothers’ Bed and Breakfast
Bill Richardson

This Canadian is a Master of Library Science. This book won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humor.

The Legate’s Daughter
Wallace Breem

Breem was a legal manuscripts librarian in London – this novel is a Roman kidnap adventure.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
Laura Amy Schlitz

A novel set in medieval England in 1255. Schiltz is a school librarian in Maryland.

Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer

A true bookperson, Shaffer worked as a librarian but also in bookselling and publishing.

Story of My Life
Giacomo Casanova

This great lover was a librarian in Count Waldstein’s household where he wrote his autobiography.

Chewing the Scenery
Davina Elliot

Davina worked for London’s Westminster Libraries and still volunteers at St James’s Library.