The Staff Shelf: Harvard Book Store

When we walk into a bookstore, the first place we go is the staff recommendation shelves—it’s how you get a quick sense of the personality of the store. The very best bookstores are merely a reflection of the eclectic, deeply felt opinions of the book-lovers who work there. As part of our Interview with a Bookstore, we asked the staff at Harvard Book Store what’s on their shelves.

SLIDESHOW: Harvard Book Store Staff Shelf

: BRAD L. (ASSISTANT STORE MANAGER) RECOMMENDS: It will start as a chuckle, grow into a cackle, and finally you’ll be laughing so hard you’re crying. People on the bus will look at you funny, your girlfriend will ask you if you’re okay, and still you won’t want to stop reading. This book is an absurd father/son story, a 500 page rant against the absurdity of existence, and a one helluva gut buster.

: CAROL H. (GENERAL MANAGER) RECOMMENDS: If there were a One Country, One Book program, and I got to pick the book for us all to read, this would be it. Stevenson’s recounting of his work with the Equal Justice Initiative is heartbreaking, infuriating, and finally, as his subtitle says, redemptive.

: ANNIE B. (BOOKSELLER) RECOMMENDS: Modiano’s brilliance is in telling stories that aren’t in order—stories that are, instead, structured around places and characters. This English translation (and the translator’s insightful commentary) captures the beauty of imagination, nostalgia, and uncertainty that makes Modiano’s writing absolutely spellbinding.

: MELISSA L-O. (SUPERVISOR/BOOKSELLER) RECOMMENDS: Here’s what you’re going to do: You’re gonna learn to time travel and sneak into your high school poetry class. You’re gonna leave this book on your desk with a note that says, “Hey! Poetry can be fun and cool and accessible and like this. Also, wipe the drool off your face.”

: KATIE F. (RECEIVER) RECOMMENDS: Beryl Markham was a woman who made her own freedom. Her memoir is a haunting, beautiful, and powerful account of her childhood and career as the first female bush pilot in Africa.

: KATHERINE F. (SUPERVISOR/BOOKSELLER) RECOMMENDS: It’s about Lois Lane in high school. Army brat, new to Metropolis, standing up to gamer bullies, interning at the Daily Planet, flirting with her mysterious online pal SmallvilleGuy (!), Veronica Marsing like a boss.

:  ALAN H. (BOOKSELLER) RECOMMENDS: David Howarth is one of my very favorite nonfiction authors (no small praise when you consider that easily 80% of my reading for pleasure is nonfiction). The words I find myself repeatedly using in describing his writing style and approach to history are ‘insightful’, ‘graceful,’ and above all, ‘humane.’

: SERENA L. (MARKETING COORDIANTOR) RECOMMENDS: The more I reread this book, the more I appreciate its delicate, woven construction and raw, genuine depth. And though I do wish I could have read it when I was in 10th grade, it has a resonance that’s impossible to outgrow. We all need the occasional reminder that being sixteen is really, really hard.