So, this is the space on the SLA blog in which NEW books are to be highlighted and reviewed – and I assure you that this space will eventually serve such a purpose.  But when I sat down to write this column, I was hard pressed to think of anything “new” that I’ve read all summer.  Like all serial readers, I often take months at a time re-reading old favourites and catching up on classics.  That is the current state in which you’ve found me.
There is a common theme running throughout my most recent reads, however, and it is one which will interest you.  And so I have compiled what I consider to be the top five novels about libraries and/or library workers and I’m excited to hear YOUR favourite titles on this subject in the comments section.  The only criteria: the titles on your list must be fiction.
So, without further ado (and in no particular order), here they are:
1. Possession by A. S. Byatt (1990)
This Man Booker Prize winner has it all – romance, mystery, and two separate storylines – all contributing to its secured placement on many “Best of…” lists.  The novel opens in the London Library, where Roland Michell discovers some letters written by prominent Victorian poet, Randolph Ash.  Roland decides to delve more into the mystery behind the letters, a search that takes him through many more libraries and archives and eventually leads him to Maud Bailey.  Maud is also an academic researcher studying Christabel LaMotte, a lesser-known Victorian poet and spinster. It is LaMotte to whom Ash’s letters were written and Maud and Roland continue to journey together in search of more clues, gradually uncovering evidence of a romance between the two poets (while developing a romance of their own).
2. Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth (1959)
Okay, this one is a stretch, I admit.  But it is also a National Book Award winner and definitely worth a read or a revisit.  In addition to the title novella, the book contains five other short stories.  “Goodbye, Columbus” is the coming-of-age tale of Neil Klugman – a Jewish American college dropout who lives in Newark with his aunt and…works in a library!  The novella follows his summer romance, and all of its many and varied complications, with Brenda Patimkin, fellow Jewish-American.  Set in the 1950s, “Goodbye, Columbus” comments on the changing values and cultures of that time, particularly in regards to class and gender.
3. Headhunter by Timothy Findley (1993)
A futuristic, psychological, dark satire and all-around strange book.  Lilah Kemp, former librarian and frequent mental patient, accidentally lets the evil Kurtz escape from page 92 of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. In Findley’s novel, Kurtz takes the form of Chief Psychiatrist at a prestigious research institute in Toronto and he uses his power to inflict evil and horror on the entire city.  Lilah believes she must find a real-life Marlow (Heart of Darkness) to stop Kurtz’s reign of terror.  Almost all of the characters in Findley’s Headhunter are modeled after classic literary icons and in addition to Heart of Darkness, the novel references works such as Wuthering Heights, Oliver Twist, Moby-Dick, Madame Bovary and The Great Gatsby – making the novel a treat for not only librarians but all bibliophiles.
4. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (1962)
Another stretch, I know, but those who have read it will remember that Charles Halloway, father of one of the 14-year-old lead characters, works as a janitor in the town library and several of the book’s pivotal scenes take place there.  This is an old-fashioned horror story about a diabolical carnival that comes to town and wreaks havoc on its inhabitants.  The town library serves as not only a place of refuge, but also provides the boys with the knowledge they need to outsmart the wicked Mr. Dark and restore the safety and goodness of their town.
5. In the Stacks: Short Stories about Libraries and Librarians edited by Michael Cart (2002)
Nineteen stories by such heavy-hitters as Jorge Luis Borges, Isaac Babel, John Cheever, Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore and Ray Bradbury.  While we all know that libraries are “magical portals to other worlds,” that “magic” feeling can sometimes wear a bit thin for those of us working in the portals.  This anthology is a delightful way to restore that “magic” and serves to remind us of the importance and enchantment of our unique workplaces…and ourselves.

And now it’s your turn!  What are your favourite fictional books about the library profession? Tell us in the Comments!