On the 27th floor of Wondercade HQ, down the creaky hall, through the last door on the left and behind the tattered velvet curtains, you’ll find a bookcase. If you gently tug the second book on the second shelf, the bookcase will swing open … and there dwells our resident bookstorian. A mysterious and erudite individual who feasts on the written word and the occasional cup of Earl Grey, they spend every waking hour — “25 out of every 24,” they cackle, bleary-eyed and jittery — devouring the mountain of books that towers over their well-worn leather Chesterfield.
In exchange for furnishing their literary lair to their exacting specifications, from the gilded rolling library ladders to the pneumatic tubes that ferry hardcovers up from the ground floor, they agreed to periodically recommend the most intriguing volumes that cross their desk. “Any old book is better than the schlock festering on your big screen,” they intone, “but these, I do believe, will compel you to swap your TV remote for a tome.”
Non-Fiction, Literature: Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit
“Solnit is one of the rare authors who inhabits my Shelf of Stories Worth Reading Again. Here, the master of the modern essay probes into George Orwell’s obsession with gardening, and digresses deliciously from there.”
Fiction, Funny: Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart
“The pandemic books keep coming, and oh how I dread them, which is why I’m delighted there is at least one worth recommending. It also answers the age-old question: What happens when a movie star, a Russian novelist, a psychiatrist and an app developer are cooped up in a house during a global meltdown?”
Kids: Shackleton’s Endurance: An Antarctic Survival Story by Joanna Grochowicz
“Are you in the presence of that rambunctious sort of child who desires, above all, an adventure outside their age range? Grochowicz’s kid-friendly account of Shackleton’s polar odyssey should quench their curiosity.”
Young Adults: The Splendor by Breeana Shields
“The magnificent, magical hotel known as The Splendor promises to ‘give you things you didn’t even know you wanted.’ I’ll stay here with my books, but you should follow Juliette as she ventures into this mystery of illusions.”
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