The Librarianist

The book’s title prepares readers for the significant role that books and reading will play in Bob’s life. He comes to reading at a young age; books are a comfort and a safe haven for him in a world where he feels different from everyone else. The challenge to connect with other people shifts to a general disinterest in people on Bob’s part—his interest in books only grows as he ages and he realizes that there is no other way he would rather spend his time than reading.

Though Bob struggles to connect with other people in a personal way, it is via books and reading that he connects with the most important people in his life: Connie and Ethan. Bob’s role as a librarian puts him in close proximity to Connie, who is forced to accompany her father, an avid nonfiction reader, to Bob’s branch nearly daily. These circumstances, and the banning of Connie’s father from the library, carve out the opportunity for Bob and Connie to talk and get to know one another. Likewise, it is books that unite Ethan and Bob when Bob insists Ethan read Crime and Punishment upon their first meeting. Bob has a knack for sensing which book the reader needs to experience and fosters a kind of connection a person did not know they needed.