The Bookshop on the Corner

Sweet and fluffy; this light read is perfect for bibliophiles. When an English librarian finds herself without a job she decides to be bold for once in her life and do something rash; open a bookstore. She obviously can't afford to rent property but she finds this perfect old van up in Scotland that might be perfect for a mobile bookshop. Throwing caution to the wind she buys the van, moves to Scotland, and starts to fall for a sexy Latvian train conductor. Her dream is coming true! Only, Nina is discovering that there are a lot of road blocks and detours and nothing in life is easy, it's about finding the courage for what you believe in. Romantic and cute, a great beach read!

Faux Paw

I needed an audiobook filler and I thought a nice cozy mystery with cats would be a nice change. I was mistaken. Maybe cozy mysteries just aren't my thing, maybe it was just this book, or maybe it was "magical cats" assisting with another murder in a small quaint little town. Whatever it was, this was not a book I was into. Even though it was the 7th in the series, it read fine as a stand alone, it was pretty straightforward; no crazy plot twists, predictable characters, non-stop eating and describing food, everything was kitschy and quirky. It was too much. Too much ugh. A traveling museum exhibit is coming to the library. The lady in charge of arranging the exhibit is found murdered in the library and a valuable art piece is stolen. Oh no! The librarian and resident cat lady is determined to find the killer so the library can re-open. She and her boyfriend (who is also conveniently a detective) bounce scenarios off each other until the case is solved.... They get a couple of clues from the librarian's magical cats along the way (one can turn invisible and the other can walk through walls.... totally normal). Hard pass.

The Library at the Edge of the World

While the title is tempting to a librarian like me, the book fell short. The premise is amazing but I couldn't get on board with any of the characters, especially the curmudgeon divorced and bitter librarian. Stuck living with her mother after she caught her husband cheating on her, she resorted to being the local public librarian even though she felt it was beneath her. Now that her daughter has moved out and her father has died she is restless and eager to move away from her mother. She got no money out of her ex-husband so she takes up a loan to restore her old aunts derelict cottage on the outskirts of the village. While working on her new project, her job and her small community are threatened. It's up to her to finally give a damn for once and come up with a plan to save the library at the edge of the world. This book has all the right elements,: small Irish town, cute little library, a cottage in need of some TLC, and some zany characters but it's still missing something. A meh, read.

Dear Fahrenheit 451

This might be my favorite book of the year. NO LIE! I related to this book on such a personal level. Not just because I'm also a librarian, but her opinion on books, hilarious asides, and love for her profession made me want to become best friends and join a book club with her. For real. Dear Fahrenheit 451 is composed of a bunch of letters written to novels, authors, and series that evoked a strong response from the author. They weren't all positive, some were negative, but ALL of them were witty, funny, and well written. The book manages to be informative, inspiring, and personal without being too judgey which can be a hard line to stay on. My reading list just got longer (alright alright I'll check out The Virgin Suicides!) and I can't wait to read whatever else Annie Spence decides to write.

Sex Criminals: Volume Two

A little (okay a lot) depressing compared to the light heartedness of the first volume but still a great read. In this collection, Jon is dealing with shit, literally, he's depressed and not dealing with life really well. He and Suzie are out of their honeymoon stage and he's struggling with his feelings towards sex and his future with Suzie. He starts seeing a shrink to sort through all the shit and Suzie is trying to get the library saved. They don't have the luxury of dealing with their own personal problems though because the sex police are still out there and they're keeping an eye on these two. A satisfying, albeit dark, follow up.

Sex Criminals: Volume 1

Easily one of the best graphic novels I've ever read. This oddly erotic, humorous, and ridiculous comic had me hooked from page one. When Suzie was a young hormonal teenager she discovered that she could freeze time anytime she orgasmed. She thought she was alone with that odd power until she met this guy at a party and they hooked up. When they discovered that they were both alone together in the frozen orgasm time they realized that they weren't the only ones. And the next logical step of course is to use their combined powers to rob banks, which leads to sex in a lot of public places. But even that is admirable because Suzie is a librarian and the big bank is foreclosing on her library. They'll just be stealing the exact amount of money to save the library. Well that and having the best sex of their lives. It's over the top fun, I need more!! Suzie may be my new favorite fictional librarian.

Bear

Thanks to this wonderful Buzzfeed article, https://www.buzzfeed.com/maribackpack/is-marian-engels-1976-novel-bear-the-most-ridic-1eyhw, I found myself hopelessly intrigued by this Canadian bestselling bestiality erotica. So like a responsible librarian I placed it on hold and read it in one sitting. This book almost defies description. Only in Canada could a book about a lonely librarian taking on a bear as a lover become a bestseller and win major literary awards. I mean, to be fair, it was written well and there weren't too many bear on girl action scenes but still. My God Canada, what is going on! Although, I got duped into reading it so maybe they're onto something. For fans of Canadian ridiculous, bear lovers, and bestiality loving librarians.

Evil Librarian

I had really high expectations from this book because it sounded soo damn good, but I was sadly under impressed. Granted this is coming from an adult stand point, not a teen one, I think a lot of female teens would dig this book, but it doesn't really translate well for adult audiences, which is fine because it's not intended for adults anyways. The premise of the book is that a hot young librarian starts at Cyn's (Cynthia) high school and all hell breaks loose (literally) she soon discovers that the librarian is an evil demon intent on sucking the life force out of students, but most disturbingly, the librarian has taken a huge fascination with Cyn's best friend Annie. Cyn has to figure out a way to stop the evil librarian, save her best friend, find someone that believe's her, stop drooling over her crush, AND make sure the school's musical production of Sweeny Todd goes off without a hitch. How will she ever survive? It's perfect for teenagers obsessed with dark humor, musicals, and fantasy. Like I said, it fell a little flat for me, but I have no doubt that teenagers will eat this up.