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If you want a quick, light, heartwarming read, then you can’t go wrong with Michiko Aoyama’s charming book What You Are Looking for Is in the Library (2023).  It consists of five interconnected stories about five different people who all find their way to a small community house library in their time of need.

Glory Broussard, a Black woman with vivid memories of segregation in her hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, likes her routine. After church on Sundays, she settles in at her table in the local coffee shop to run her bookie business. She volunteers with the Red Hat Society, and the rest of the time, seems to be going through the motions after her divorce and the death of her mother.

Join us each month as we interview a Readers' Advisor at WPL so you can get to know the team a little better! Up next, we are featuring Adult Services Associate, Liz. Read on to find out what book she's always recommending, her tips for getting out of a reading slump, and more. 

How long have you worked in libraries?

A little over 2 years 

What is your favorite book from childhood?

I have been a fan of Jennifer McMahon’s books ever since I read The Invited several years ago, and her latest novel, My Darling Girl (2023), might be her best one yet!

A wonderful mix of folktale, mystery, romance and historical fiction, The Fox Wife (2024) checks all the boxes for a fascinating read. Set in China and Japan in the early 1900s, author Yangsze Choo brings to life the folklore of the fox spirits; beautiful young men and women who can transform into foxes, bewilder and trick people and feed off the life force of humans.

Over the holidays I listened to the audiobook of Pineapple Street (2023), Jenny Jackson's debut novel. Jackson happens to be a Vice-President and Executive Editor at Knopf Doubleday and has edited the likes of Emily St.

Set in the cozy English countryside, The Wake-Up Call (2023) is a charming story about love, found family, and misunderstandings. The staff of the Forest Manor hotel are desperate to save their beloved workplace from closure or bankruptcy. Rivals Izzy and Lucas have barely spoken for over a year, but now are forced into an uneasy partnership to quickly raise funds.

If you loved the award-winning Korean movie Parasite (2019), then you should check out the Korean drama series Little Women (2022) on Netflix. It’s a rollercoaster of suspense and mystery following the dramatic lives of a group of sisters in Seoul, Korea. Similar to Parasite, it tells the story of a poor family who become embroiled in the lives of a powerful, wealthy family.

Strange Sally Diamond (2023) by Liz Nugent begins like a darker Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, but soon takes a turn into a much more sinister, disturbing story.

With her most recent novel, The Book of Goose (2022), author Yiyun Li gives us a coming of age story that explores the fraught friendship of two girls growing up in an impoverished village in rural France during the aftermath of World War II.

American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI (2020) by Kate Winkler Dawson recounts the life and career of Edward Oscar Heinrich (1881-1953), one of the founding fathers of forensic science in the United States.

If you enjoy sweeping historical novels then you may want to dig into A Long Petal of the Sea (2020), one of the most recent books by the prolific Chilean-American author Isabel Allende. And if you especially appreciate books that shed light on dramatic past events less likely to be on our reading radar than, say, World War II, A Long Petal of the Sea just might be calling your name.