The Laid Back Librarian

Tag: libraries

  • Books to be excited about (2026)

    Books to be excited about (2026)

    It’s back to school time, and the cogs of publishing have begun to churn again. Here is a list of titles I am most excited about that are coming out this year, starting off with my five star predictions.

    (One thing to note about how I write about books: Before I read a book, I like to go in nearly blind. If a few key points peak my interest, that’s all I need to know. So if you want an in-depth blurb for a book, you’ll have to look elsewhere.)

    ⭐ Five Star Predictions ⭐

    Whistler ~ Ann Patchett

    To be released in June

    I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Ann Patchett after her talk at the Readers & Writers Festival in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, in 2024. She was just as thoughtful and kind as she appears online and even complimented me on my handmade booksleeve. I was very late to the bandwagon with Ann Patchett. Tom Lake was the first book I read of hers, closely followed by These Precious Days (coincidently two of her best book covers). Needless to say, I am so excited about this next book from her.

    Whistler is about a woman’s serendipitous reconnection with her former step-father. It’s about love, memory, impermanence and loss. There’s no doubt in my mind that it will be full of warmth, as Ann Patchett has written extensively in her essays about her deep bond with her own step fathers.

    A Far-Flung Life by M. L. Stedman

    March

    We haven’t had anything new from M. L. Stedman since her bestselling success with The Light Between Oceans in 2012. I read her first novel with a Book Club and absolutely loved it. It combines two of my favourite things in books: the Edwardian era and 1920’s, lighthouses and living in remote places. Her newest novel is sure to spark those same notes I love (and maybe will for you, too!). It is a historical novel set in 1958 on a remote sheep station in Western Australia.

    The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw

    September

    (Cover yet to be revealed)

    Secret Lives of Church Ladies has got to be one of my favourite short story collections of all time and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have high hopes for Deesha Philyaw’s first novel. Described as a mega-church ‘rags-to-rolex’ story, that’s all I need to know to be fully onboard. I’m expecting it to have a similar tone to Netflix’s Greenleaf show, which is about a black patriarch of an American mega-church – its rise and fall and familial drama.

    Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times by Matthew Remski

    April

    One of the things I love about being alive in the twenty-first century is that I can thoroughly enjoy a World War II romance novel (hello to all my The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society fans), and not support fascism in the slightest at the same time. Matthew Remski is one of three co-creators of the Conspirituality podcast. The three podcasters wrote a book of the same name in 2023 following the social trends they had tracked across the pandemic. (A book I am only halfway through and still need to finish!)

    Remski’s new book seeks to tackle the current crisis we find ourselves in with boys and men in particular by offering alternatives to the manosphere, brofluencers and far-right punters. The book has been blurbed by Naomi Klein, who wrote one of my favourite books of 2023 called Doppelganger, so I think it’s going to pop off.

    The Story of Capital: What Everyone Should Know About How Capital Works by David Harvey

    February

    Last year I was part of a reading group that read Capital: Volume I by Karl Marx (it’s over a thousand pages). It was a dense yet surprisingly rewarding read. David Harvey was referenced a lot by the group, as he is an eminent Marxist scholar. Whilst I haven’t personally consulted Harvey’s commentary before, I’ve heard good things and think this will be a perfect (and hopefully quick!) refresher to keep these ideas in my mind. I’m hoping that by reinforcing my reading, I’ll be able to explain socialism (and capitalism) better on the fly.

    Top Picks

    Non-Fiction

    Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online ~ Fortesa Latifi (April)

    This one looks like a fascinating foray into the twisted world of child influencers and family vloggers. It’s a topic many video essays have explored, but I’m in for a deeper dive into the darkness.

    Famesick: A Memoir ~ Lena Dunham (April)

    Finally another memoir from Lena Dunham. A devotee of her essays, including the collection Not That Kind of Girl, and her show GIRLS, I’ll read anything she writes. Dunham and Dolly Alderton are two essayists who’s frankness (and often crassness) got me through the crazy ride that is your early twenties.

    Girls: Gen Z and the Commodification of Everything ~ Freya India (March)

    I’ve been following along Freya India’s Substack for a little while, since she was featured by Jonathan Haidt. Her essays are gentle but firm, questioning and kind, and she often pens just the thing I’ve been pondering on and want to read about. So I’m stoked she’s produced a collection to hold in my hands (rather than read online, as I have a love-hate relationship with Substack).

    Homeboys Forever: The Lifetime Consequences of Gang Membership ~ Avelardo Valdez (April)

    When I used to threaten to up and move, my sister would always say that if you want community in a small town, you have to either join the church or a gang. I laughed at the time. Now I do live in a small town and know she was right. I was absolutely captivated by the show Sons of Anarchy (I have yet to finish it) and unfortunately did go through a bit of a biker-romance phase. This longitudinal study of Mexican men in Texas looks as fascinating as the fictionalized depictions.

    Nature Non-Fiction

    Up: A Scientist’s Guide to the Magic Above Us ~ Dr. Lucy Rogers (April)

    Lucy Roger’s book is described as being for ‘stargazers, cloud watchers and dreamers’. As all three, I know this read is for me. Plus the cover is so cute!

    When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World ~ Suzanne Simard (March)

    Suzanne Simard’s first book, Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and the Intelligence of the Forest, has been on my TBR backlist for a long time. Her new book looks just as interesting in our age of climate change.

    Nightfaring: In Search of Disappearing Darkness ~ Megan Eaves-Egenes (January)

    A few years ago I read Johan Eklöf’s The Darkness Manifesto: Why the World Needs the Night, which inspired me to create a display for Dark Sky Week at the library. Here in NZ we have quite a few Dark Sky certified places, reserves and sanctuaries. It’s something we have to actively protect so we can see beautiful things like auroras, the stars and what Lucy Rogers calls ‘the magic above us’.

    Food Writing

    I had no idea that food writing was a genre until I stumbled across Priya Basil’s Be My Guest: Reflections on Food, Community and the Meaning of Generosity at the library as a teenager. Ever since then, I’ve loved the genre and am always looking for that perfect blend of memoir and comfort food that Basil gave me. These two books look like a great offering for the palate.

    Capitalism

    Because I’m me, I have some specifically anti-capitalist books I want to read.

    • Losing Interest: The Antisocial History of Economic Growth ~ Scott W. Schwartz (April)
    • Capitalism is Sexism ~ Doortje Smithuijsen (August)
    • Anthropause: The Beauty of Degrowth ~ Stan Cox (January)
    • On Natural Capital: The Value of the World Around Us I ~ Partha Dasgupta (July)
    • Escape from Capitalism: Economics is Political and Other Liberating Truths ~ Clara E. Mattei (January)

    Fiction

    Oh, did I mention I love WWII novels and books about books? Here’s two by authors that have been on my TBR before.

    • The Secret Society of Librarians ~ Kate Thompson (March)
    • The Parisian Chapter ~ Janet Skeslien Charles (May)

    Wild Card Fiction

    My wild card picks include two authors I’ve read and enjoyed before (the two Emily’s), a novel about a tradwife who is sent back in time to face the past she idealizes (Yesteryear), a novel about a woman who washes dishes for a living on McMurdo Station in Antarctica (Understory).

    • Yesteryear ~ Caro Claire Burke (April)
    • Is This a Cry for Help? ~ Emily Austin (January)
    • Exit Party ~ Emily St. John Mandel (September)
    • Understory ~ Chloe Benjamin

    Middle-Grade

    My middle grade picks (from left to right). Katherine Applegate’s newest book looks adorable as always. I loved The One and Only Ivan when I first read it and need to read more from her. Joy McCullough’s novel is a religious reckoning told in poetry which sounds fantastic. Strays has been compared to Because of Winn-Dixie, which was one of my favourites as a child. Diane Zahler’s novel explores the journey of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine’s granddaughter as she becomes a queen. There’s a lighthouse in this last one, need I say more?

    • Wombat Waiting ~ Katherine Applegate (May)
    • Kestrel Takes Flight ~ Joy McCullough (May)
    • Strays ~ Gia Gordon (June)
    • The Queen’s Granddaughter ~ Diane Zahler (March)
    • The Mysterious Magic of Lighthouse Lane ~ Erin Stewart (February)

    Hopefully I’ll get around to reading some of these (and fingers crossed I can review a few as well!). Although, based on how big my leftover books published from my 2025 list is that I haven’t got around to, we’ll have to see about that. 😂

    Love, The Laid Back Librarian x

  • My First Blog & Manifesto

    My First Blog & Manifesto

    People are never what you expect in the library. Little old ladies are reading the most ruthless crime novels, or toe-curling bodice ripper romances. Librarians – ahem, me – roll up their cardigan sleeves to reveal some serious tattoos. Working in libraries from the North end to the South end of Aotearoa New Zealand, I have bumped into all kinds of library patrons. From the teen secretly printing pregnancy resources and stuffing the papers up their hoodie, to the recently divorced father crying to me and begging for anything to read to take his mind off of his heartache. A day in the life of a librarian has a lot of diversity.

    I didn’t plan on becoming a librarian. At university, all I did was read books in coffee shops, acquire countless friends and leave my assignments to the last minute. I knew I couldn’t sit at a desk all day. But little did I know that I would turn out exactly like my father and find a career where I could chat to people all day. It’s strange being an extroverted introvert. I want to read books and I want to talk to people. It was obvious to everyone but me that I would become a librarian.

    Libraries are only as meaningful as the communities they serve. It’s become a favourite phrase of mine that libraries are one of our last third places. A third place is a sociology term describing the ‘third’ social environment after the first (being home) and the second (being the workplace). Environments such as churches, cafes, bars clubs, libraries, stoops and parks. It was a term coined by Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place (1989). What distinguishes libraries from others on this list is that there are no obstacles to entry: no religious or financial requirements. Anyone can walk into the library and stay for as long as it’s open, for free. Not many other places in twenty-first century society can boast somewhere warm, dry and comfortable to linger without paying a dime. I see it everyday that libraries serve our most vulnerable communities: those facing housing instability, those recently released from prison, refugees, parents, the elderly, the disabled and more. (If you need more convincing on why libraries are epic, please check out this video or read this article.)

    Children show pure joy on their faces when they come into the library. I love overhearing a parent, grandparent or caregiver saying, “just ask the librarian”. It makes me feel like human Google when I can point a patron in the right direction, or advise them on their reading or research queries.

    It’s a strange time in my life to be writing a blog because I did the romance-novel-trope-thing. I moved to a small town and fell in love. Now I’m planning a marriage ceremony, a new home, I just started a new library position, and for some reason, I’ve started this project too. My reading stats have gone down substantially. But, at the heart of this blog is sustainability, slowness and simplicity. I will be writing about my hyper-fixations, my fascinations and what I call ‘grandma values’ (for instance, being frugal, thrifty, having hands-on hobbies, mending and taking care of things for the future). There will hopefully be many articles forthcoming in their own good time.

    I’ve called myself The Laid Back Librarian for many reasons. One, because it is the kiwi way to be chill. Two, because after many years of trying to be perfect and to do things perfectly, I’ve begun to love the little surprises in imperfection. The serendipity of life when I slow down to notice it. When I’m in a rush, and trying to do everything, that is when I lose the beauty of now. It’s an aspirational moniker for me to try to live up to, as well. (Let’s be honest – it also was one of the only free domain names I liked, too.) I’ve come up with four main beliefs of The Laid Back Librarian so you know where I stand, and if you feel the same way, please feel free to stick around.

    The Laid Back Librarian Manifesto:

    1. I believe in treating all people with kindness. (One of the pins on my lanyard says so, too!)
    2. Like all booksellers, librarians and readers alike, I believe that the right book at the right time is like a little bit of magic. A book is a powerful tool, a comfort and a companion.
    3. I believe that libraries are a necessary public service, safe haven and third place which protect, reflect and support communities.
    4. I believe in active listening and being present with the patrons I interact with (this can be a struggle when things get busy!), responding with understanding, kindness and empathy. I often remind myself to slow down, stop and have the conversation, listen and learn. Because my community is what it’s all about.

    Love, The Laid Back Librarian x