Dallas Public Library: #AskALibrarian Book Recommendations

Press release from Dallas Public Library:

Alicia Deal-Unsal

October 16, 2021

Every Thursday on Twitter, libraries come together to respond to your most pressing book recommendation needs. Just enter #AskALibrarian into your Twitter post with your question and a hoard of libraries will be standing by to field your questions. The Dallas Public Library (DPL) has been participating in this service since April of this year. Here are several excerpts of the book recommendations already made by DPL’s library staff:

Nonfiction heist books by authors of color OR women

• Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion by Tori Telfer
• Diamond Doris: The True Story of the World’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief by Doris Payne
• The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya
• The Great Pearl Heist: London’s Greatest Jewel Thief and Scotland Yard’s Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Necklace by Molly Caldwell Crosby
• The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
• The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Anne Marie O’Connor
• The Amber Room: The Fate of the World’s Greatest Lost Treasure by Cathy Scott-Clark
• Hitler’s Art Thief: Hildebrand Gurlitt, the Nazis, and the Looting of Europe’s Treasures by Susan Ronald

A funny book for an 11-year-old

• The 13-Story Treehouse series by Andy Griffiths
• Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
• Tom Gates series by Liz Pinchon

Picture book biographies that feature disabled and/or queer people

• Queer Heroes by Arabelle Sicardi
• Pride: The story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders
• My Brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete
• I am Helen Keller (Ordinary People Change the World) by Brad Meltzer

An LGBTQIA romantic comedy

• Once Ghosted Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole
• Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• The BackStagers by James Tynion IV
• Check, Please by Ngozi Ukazu

Magical or mystery middle-grade recommendations for summer

• When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
• Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray
• Finally Something Mysterious by Doug Cornett
• Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan
• Redwall series by Brian Jacques
• Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

6th grade “supernatural” books that feature vampires, witches, or werewolves that are less widely known

• Wait till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
• Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger
• Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi

Book club worthy non-fiction about the development of NYC from the 70s to present

• Nonstop Metropolis by Rebecca Solnit
• The New York Nobody Knows by William Helmreich
• Last Subway: The Long Wait for The Next Train In New York City by Philip Mark Plotch

Adult Fiction or Nonfiction books about working at a grocery store

• Monster by A. Lee Martinez
• Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
• The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron.
• The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr

Amazing westerns

• Strongheart by Jim Fergus
• The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
• Heresy by Melissa Lenhardt
• Open Season by C. J. Box
• Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• Paradise Sky by Joe R. Lansdale
• A Book of Tongues by Gemma File

Books about managing fear of uncertainty or risk

• The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times By Chödrön, Pema.
• Daring Greatly and Braving the Wilderness
• Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design by Henry Petroski.
• Surviving Survival by Laurence Gonzalez

Books that provide an introduction to or history of cryptography

• The Code Book by Simon Singh
• Cryptography: A Very Short Introduction by Fred Piper and Sean Murphy
• The Mathematics of Secrets: Cryptography from Caesar Ciphers to Digital Encryption by Joshua Holden

A feel good novel set in a South Asian country

• Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai
• How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid
• Meatspace by Nikesh Shukla

Books or documentaries similar to Netflix’s Fantastic Fungi

• Beginners Guide to Mushrooms by Britt Bunyard
• Forager’s Pantry: Cooking With Wild Edibles by Ellen Zachos
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
• Wild Mushrooms: A Cookbook and Foraging Guide by Kristen Blizzard

You are also welcome to ask other tantalizing questions you’ve always wanted to ask your local library, such as who our preferred reading companion is (for me, our family dog, Wally), the books that shaped who we are as a person, our favorite non-bookmark bookmark, the one genre we’d choose to read for the rest of our lives, what books we’re surprised that get checked out the most, the most supernatural thing to occur in the library that we just can’t explain, and what book location we’d love to be transported to. And yes, not only do we not mind if you bring your own book to read to the library, but we also encourage it!

Visit the Dallas Public Library at 11am every Thursday on Twitter to ask us your most pressing questions! Our handle is @dallaslibrary!

This press release was produced by Dallas Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.