book
beat
Books Former librarian
shares love of books
for every moment
“YOU CAN HONESTLY SAY, ‘She has done
little, but read much,’” says Nancy Pearl about
herself. The second half of the description is
undeniable for the author and former librarian. FRANCE
Sitting in a coffee shop in her Seattle neigh- FREEMAN
borhood, the petite and bespectacled Pearl
tells The Connection that she feels a little sad Book enthusiast Nancy Pearl, immor-
for people who don’t like to read, saying talized as an action figure (above),
they’ve lost something in their lives. Then recommends reads for nearly everyone
again, she admits, “I don’t know that reading in Book Lust and More Book Lust.
as much as I do is healthy.”
By Stephanie E. Ponder
Costcomember Pearl’spassionforbooks takes Pearl back to where her affair with
is easy to track by leafing through her books: books began. By the age of 10, she knew she
Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every wanted to be a children’s librarian, because,
Mood, Moment, and Reason and More Book she says, she wanted “the chance to do good in
Lust: 1,000 New Reading Recommendations for the world.”
Every Mood, Moment, and Reason—pub- She explains, “Librarians perform mira-lished in 2003 and 2005, respectively. cles. They do a great service by putting people
Book Lust began when she was asked to in touch with the right book at the right time.”
write a book about some of her favorite reads. Her career, and life, took her from work
She started by culling titles from her personal as a children’s librarian in Michigan to a
bookshelves and then reached into her and out of print. Books are broken down into bookstore in Tulsa, Oklahoma—with a break
30 years of experience chapters such as “First Lines to Remember,” to have two daughters. At the bookstore she
reading and review- “Pawns of History” and “Three-Hanky Reads.” realized that the world of children’s books was
ing books for a liv- Pearl laments that as soon as Book Lust too narrow for her and she shifted to working
ing. The result is a was finished she realized she’d left out some with adult books.
descriptive “list” titles. She’d wake up at night with the names She and her husband moved to Seattle
of approximately of forgotten books in her head. “It was in 1993. Before retiring in 2004, she served as
1,500 books in all depressing,” she says. “I thought I’d included director of library programming and execu-genres, for all ages, every single book I had loved.” tive director of the Washington Center for the
that are both in On top of that, readers were e-mailing her Book at the Seattle Public Library. She started
and stopping her on the street the “If All Seattle Read the Same Book” pro-to ask why she’d left out their gram, which has been widely copied. And her
favorite books. Sometimes she professional life found her on the receiving
had honestly forgotten about a end of several awards.
book; other times she simply One oft-cited honor is being the model
didn’t want to include a par- for a librarian action figure. The deluxe edi-ticular work or author. tion comes with a reference desk and a book
“This isn’t a list of the all- cart with books ready to be reshelved, and the
time, must-read, best books figure is poised to shush. Its popularity has led
ever,” she says. “It is, after all, to her being called a rock star in a field rarely
my favorite books.” associated with such glamour.
member
profile
Name: Nancy Pearl
Member at:
Seattle, Washington
Web site:
www.nancypearl.com
Products at costco.com:
Book Lust and
More Book Lust
Comments about Costco:
“I love shopping at Costco
because I can always find
what I need there, and I
always find things there that
I didn‘t know I needed, but
clearly did.”
But still the omissions Flattered, but not taking the praise too
haunted her, and she jumped seriously, Pearl says, “If someone can talk about
at the chance to do More Book the rock star and librarian in the same sen-
Lust, which includes another tence, that is a credit to all librarians.”
1,000 titles divided into If she is surprised by the success of the
new chapters such as “Fiction action figure, Pearl is equally surprised by the
for Foodies,” “Krakatau” and success of the Book Lust books. Their popu-
“Time Travel.” larity has taken her to speaking engagements
Pearl is currently working across the country and as far away as Australia.
on Book Crush,a book ofrec- “Their success speaks to the fact that
ommended reads for kids— reading books is not dead,” says Pearl, “and
from picture books to young- people are still interested in finding good books
adult titles. It’s a move that to read.” C
