by Tina

Would it surprise you to know that many of the library staff are fantasy enthusiasts? Our staff vote during PBS’s Great American Read chose Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings as our top picks! We have a creative and brilliant staff with great imaginations, so it’s not surprising that they would appreciate those qualities in writers. Fantasy is that wonderful place where you can explore possibilities and imagine a different world. That is certainly appealing to me at this time! Here are some great recommendations for you:

Jeremy and Emily both recommend The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg. This graphic novel imagines the lives of people who lived in prehistoric earth. Award-winning writer and artist Greenberg creates their world through art and interconnected stories.

Sarah has picked out some fascinating titles including The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: “a fun, magical Russian fairy tale adventure set in historic Russia.” She also enjoyed Uprooted by Naomi Novik: “a fractured fairy tale with influences from Eastern Europe.”

Jeanne chose Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan, which she describes as “magical! LOVE the e-audio for the musicality woven throughout her book which literally binds the characters, their lives, and boundaries over time.”

Leah recommends the Arc of a Scythe series: Scythe; Thunderhead; and The Toll by Neal Shusterman. She says that “this series is really hard to put down and is set in a non-dystopian future (yay!) which has some pretty interesting ideas about how our society could evolve.”

I’m stretching the “fantasy” genre here a little bit, but I wanted to include Sarah’s recommendation of The Future for Curious People by Gregory Sherl – “Lighthearted and fun with just a touch of sci-fi.”

I know that Leah is not alone when she says of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series that “I’m waiting (and not very patiently) for the ninth and final book in this series. I don’t know if these are what you would call ‘feel good,’ but they sure transport me away from wherever I happen to be sitting!”

I am a huge fan of the All Souls series by Deborah Harkness, which has been a great distraction to me in troubling times. Starting with A Discovery of Witches, we learn that vampires, witches, and daemons live among us, and they lead very interesting lives. But can we all learn to live together and appreciate our different gifts?

For many people, fantasy began with Harry Potter. Bethany loves the audiobooks, and so do I. But Kathy’s relationship to the series was my favorite story of this whole “feel-good” project. Here’s what she has to say: “I have read these stories of magic, adventure, and good vs. evil so many times. When my husband and I were first married, I asked him to listen to the audiobooks with me because I wanted to share them with him. Now my 5-year-old son and I are reading these together, and it is truly magical. These stories continue to bring me joy years after first reading them and sharing them with people I love makes reading them all the sweeter.”

Wishing you that kind of joy in reading,

The Book Goddess