by Jess Shelleman

I’ve worked in libraries for about 16 years, and like many who work in this field, I was first attracted to the profession because of my voracious love of reading, even though you don’t get to read too much on the job. I love my job, and I love that I get to work with books, but it can also have a downside: the realization that there are too many good books and not enough time to read them. 

My taste in books is all over the place, and in addition to reading physical books, I also listen to a lot of audiobooks on my daily commute. Being able to listen to books as well as read them means I’m usually “reading” two books at any given time. Right now, I’m currently reading three books: Cursed, by Marissa Meyer, Murder in Highbury by Vanessa Kelly, and You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero. I’m listening to Cursed through CloudLibrary on my phone and alternately reading the physical copies of the other two. I can usually only manage three if the ones I’m physically reading are different enough that I won’t get confused, and all three of these titles are quite different: a twisted Germanic fairy tale of Rumplestiltskin, a murder mystery set in the Regency Era world of Jane Austen’s Emma, and a nonfiction self-development book. 

I often have people ask for book recommendations of books that I’ve read, which is a difficult question to answer; whether a person will like a book or not is so subjective, but I still love recommending and sharing books with others. Below I’m listing five of my favorite reads from the past two years. (Limiting the list because I could go on forever.) Take a look, and maybe you’ll find one of your new favorite books.

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer – Such a beautiful, heartbreaking, yet ultimately heartwarming story about growing up and finding your chosen family.

Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton – So much deeper than I thought it would be. Everyone and everywhere has secrets, and the reader is along for the ride to piece together the night of the murder and what it could mean for the future of humanity.

The Cruise by Caroline James – I love cruising, so anything that takes place on a cruise ship catches my attention. This was such a fun read, following three ladies in their 60s aboard a cruise around the Caribbean, finding love, laughter, heartbreak, and beautiful tropical beaches along the way.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix – The title pretty much explains the premise, yet somehow, I didn’t realize it was a horror novel until I was well into it because it was so well written as. I thought was just a domestic drama with estranged siblings. The family’s secrets have horrifying consequences, and it was so wonderfully descriptive that I was truly terrified…in a good way.

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith – The Cormoran Strike books (this is book #7) are so well written (the characters, the setting, the story) that I get sucked right into the world. The audiobook of this title is over 34 hours, and not once did I get bored or hope it would just end. One of the main characters goes undercover, by herself, in a religious cult for a large part of the novel, and my whole body actually reacted to the anxiety I had for her during those chapters: tensed muscles, raised heart rate, and realizing I was holding my breath during some scenes. Book #8 comes out in September, and I can’t wait.