Hit the books with these tips and reading recommendations from local librarians
Author C.S. Lewis once said, “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” And while eloquent, his sentiment isn’t universally shared. For busy parents, students scorned by reading assignments and those simply in a slump, reading for reading’s sake may seem like a pastime of, well, the past.
For those aspiring to identify as readers for the first time or in a new season, East Baton Rouge Parish Library collection development librarian Jenna Jaureguy and assistant library director Mary Stein offer several tips for falling in love with reading, or picking up where you left off. Keep reading for their tips and book recommendations.
Stop reading.
If you don’t like a book, there is no prize for suffering through the end. Stein and Jaureguy agree there’s nothing wrong with putting a book down and choosing another. “There’s no judgment from the librarians, and there’s no test at the end,” Stein says. “If you don’t like a book, you can stop reading it.”
A key part of reading for pleasure is enjoying the material. Whether your interest lies in biographies and memoirs, thrillers and mysteries, hockey romance, or at some cross-section, Jaureguy says to rest assured that there is a book out there for you and a librarian ready to help you discover it.
Find your format.
Just as there are seemingly endless genres, reading comes in many different formats. Print books are not the only acceptable way to get your words in, Stein notes. “The number one tip is you can read short form or long form—and audio also counts,” she says. Whether it’s a graphic novel, magazine, e-book or audiobook, reading is reading.
The Libby app offers access to ebooks, audiobooks, films, magazines and more through your EBRPL library card. You can read or listen directly from the app on your phone, computer or tablet, or through integrations with e-readers like a Kindle.
Change the setting.
It’s difficult to get lost in a riveting tale while the dishes in the sink seem to be watching you, Stein notes. “I feel guilty about them, and then I just go in the other room,” she says with a laugh. Whether it’s leaving the room or taking your book to a coffee shop, bookstore, park or the library, a change of scenery can do wonders for focusing on the story at hand.
Libby users should consider literally changing their reading settings, Jaureguy adds. Adjusting the brightness, font size or simply swapping the background color from stark white to a creamy vanilla can be just the comforting change your eyes need to get lost in a new read.
Make a connection.
While reading is generally considered a solo activity, Jaureguy says a book is best when shared. Book clubs, even silent book clubs like the ones hosted by TBR Books and Tea or Pelican to Mars, offer a chance to connect with others through reading.
“That’s why a lot of people read—they want a connection to others through something,” Jaureguy says. “And talking about your latest read is a great way to get more recommendations.”
Everyone enjoys the feeling of belonging, and a book has the power to connect strangers, families and friends alike, whether read silently and separately, then discussed aloud together.
“That’s one reason we do One Book One Community, for the shared experience of meeting on the pages of one book,” Stein says. “For even 15 minutes to have shared context, how good is that for society?”
Looking for a great read this fall? Jaureguy offers the following recommendations. Click on each title for more information.
Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin
Rob Franklin’s novel Great Black Hope has won the 19th Annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Franklin will be honored during a public ceremony on Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. at the Manship Theater in the Shaw Center for the Arts, located at 100 Lafayette Street in Downtown Baton Rouge, which is free to the public. The book is Franklin’s debut novel, a satirical and comic work that follows a queer Black Stanford graduate navigating grief, class expectations and the legal system in New York.
Oxford American or Gravy Quarterly
These two publications focus on Southern culture and are all either essays, articles or short stories that won’t take all a reader’s time but still count as reading, Jaureguy says. “And, they are great for exposing people to new Southern talent,” she adds. American Oxford is geared towards art and literature, while Gravy Quarterly features Southern food and poetry.
Kin by Tayari Jones
“Kathryn Stockett made big literary waves this year after publishing The Calamity Club over 15 years between her bestseller The Help,” Jaureguy says. Kin is published almost ten years after Jones’ bestseller and Oprah Book Club book, An American Marriage. Like her previous works, this novel is historical fiction set across the South, including Louisiana, and centers on female friendship and community. “Jones’ writing is always stellar,” Jaureguy notes.
Louisiana Healing Garden by Corinne Martin
In this follow-up to Martin’s Louisiana Herb Journal, the Louisiana herbalist celebrates local nature, offering a guide to the medicinal properties of everyday plants such as crape myrtle, gardenia and sweet olive. With fifty medicinal herbs featured, the book invites readers to participate in what Catholic priest and ecologist Thomas Berry called “the Great Work” of finding ways to live that benefit the places we inhabit as well as our own well-being.
Savage Lake by Nick Medina
Coming out on Oct. 27, Savage Lake is the newest novel by Medina, a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. While not set in Louisiana, this will be a great horror read about what lurks in the woods, coupled with indigenous myths from the Ojibwe Indians, Jaureguy says. His previous titles, The Whistler and Indian Burial Ground, are horror set in Louisiana.
The French Innkeeper’s Daughter by Diane C. McPhail
Available Sept. 29, this historical fiction novel is set in 18th-century France and follows the founding mothers of Louisiana. McPhail’s previous Louisiana book, The Seamstress of New Orleans, was about the first all-female Mardi Gras krewe.
Learn more about the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, explore which books are currently available and see upcoming author talks by visiting ebrpl.org.
This story was originally published by inRegister on Aug. 20. To keep up with inRegister, subscribe to the free inRegister@Home e-newsletter here.
