Chapter 105: Nancy the Librarian on the riches and rewards of resplendent reading

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Nancy Pearl is a Superhero Librarian.

One of our values on 3 Books is “Librarians and booksellers are doctors for the mind” and while we’ve hung out with a number of booksellers, Nancy is somehow our very first librarian!

How did we find Nancy? Well, 3 Booker Cindy Sharek left us a gushing voicemail at 1-833-READ-A-LOT singing Nancy’s praises and we were convinced. She’s won the Librarian of the Year Award, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, and, get this, has even been turned into an action figure!

Nancy is a frequent guest on NPR’s Morning Edition, has her own TV show called Book Lust with Nancy Pearl, and, as if all that wasn’t enough, is also a bestselling author with titles like George and Lizzie, Book Lust, and The Writer’s Library.

Nancy joined me from her home in Seattle and we talked about the role of the library today, the power of reading, the joy of meandering, the 4 Ps of books, which books help reluctant readers get their start, what makes debut novels special, movie adaptations, audio books, and, of course, her 3 most formative books.

Let’s flip the page into Chapter 105 now…

Chapter 105: Nancy the librarian on the riches and rewards of resplendent reading

What You'll Learn:

  • What purpose does a public library serve today?

  • How do librarians help readers choose books?

  • What are the 4 Ps of books?

  • What books help reluctant readers?

  • Why should we reread Harry Potter?

  • What’s special about debut novels?

  • Which books let you meander?

  • Should we see movies adapted from books?

  • What are the best books to start enjoying audio books?

  • And much, much more…

Notable quotes from nancy:

“​​The public library is the heart of the community.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“A public library is the people’s university.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“We want children to find themselves in the pages of a book and lose themselves in the pages of a book.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“There should be a lot more collaboration between libraries and bookstores. They are not in competition.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“Readers fall into four categories: someone who reads for plot, someone who reads for people, someone who reads for place, and someone who reads for prose.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“I'm against labeling books because to label any book a particular genre is to doom it to people who don't read that genre which is a shame.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“In a book I'm looking for characters that are so well-developed, whether they're good or bad, I don't really care. I just care that I want to know them and I want to feel like they're really living, breathing people.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“One of the things that makes reading so wonderful for children is that use of imagination to create the characters in their head.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

Quoting Paul Auster: “The reader and the writer create the book that the reader is reading.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“I have chosen in this life not to do anything basically except read.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“Reading has been the bedrock for everything.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

“Reading and believing in what you do are the keys to success.” Nancy Pearl #3bookspodcast

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