RECOMMENDED READS

Welcome to our literary circle, in which San Diegans pass the (printed) word on books

René Gehr

Job: Assistant Branch Manager, Lemon Grove Branch Library, San Diego County Library

She recommends: “The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War” by Delphine Minoui; translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020; 197 pages)

Why? A band of rebels discover a cache of books and create a secret underground library in the besieged Syrian town of Daraya. As bombs drop, they risk their lives to rescue thousands of books from the daily rubble and add them to the library. The space they create becomes a sanctuary, not just for orphan books, but for other rebels looking for a quiet space to escape, read and think. When a journalist begins a series of long-distance conversations with one of the library’s co-founders, she learns about their struggles and their reading lists. The most delightful parts of this book are the unexpected reading tastes of the library patrons. The rebels share their opinions on a surprising variety of genres from epic works of philosophy, history, poetry and plays to popular novels and banal self-help books with sincere and equal enthusiasm. This is a great choice for readers who like books about books and for those of us who need some encouragement to explore books outside of our usual genres.

Mimi Hannan

Job: Bookseller, La Playa Books

She recommends: “Silver Beach” by Claire Cox (University of Massachusetts Press, 2021; 208 pages)

Why? I’m a sucker for a novel that probes family relationships and provides a lens to see the unseen folks who live among us. Set it in a familiar, noir-feeling, fictionalized Ocean Beach and I’m sold. Debut novelist Claire Cox tells the story of three women: once-glamorous Linda, who is dying of alcoholism; her daughter Mara, who escaped family tragedy and grew up in privilege back East; and her other daughter Shannon, an adult child who has grown up feral in her mother’s shadow. Excellent storytelling and rotating first-person perspectives really take you into the characters’ inner lives as they navigate their past and present.