The Book Nerd’s Guide to Being in Love With a Book

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Welcome to the Book Nerd’s Guide to Life! Every other week, we convene in this safe place to discuss the unique challenges of life for people whose noses are always wedged in books. For past guides, click here.

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No Exit and Three Other Plays

Jean-Paul Sartre

Paperback

$17.00

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Notes From Your Bookseller

Nine days out of 10, I’m inclined to agree with Jean-Paul Sartre: “Hell is other people.” On those days when the rest of the species disappoints you, it’s so natural, so easy to rely on your No. 1 coping mechanism: a good book.
This is why I believe it is entirely possible to be in love with a book. You see, books fill a void often left by interactions in this world. Sure, what you’re reading can often tear your heart out, stomp on it, and shove it back into your chest. But it doesn’t discourage you or fill you with regret. A book’s challenges and heartbreak only make you love it more.
Better yet, a book doesn’t discourage you from loving again. A healthy relationship with a book isn’t monogamous at all.
I’m happy to announce I myself am in a new book relationship with the unexpected and haunting Lovecraft Country, the one-two punch of otherworldly and Jim Crow horrors you never knew you needed. Right now, I’m in the phase of the relationship where I sing its praises to everyone I meet. I want to shout from the rooftops about my undying affection for this book.

Notes From Your Bookseller

What other phases of book love are there? Oh, I reckon you’re familiar with them, on the off chance you’ve ever loved another—homo sapien or hardback.
Infatuation
You see it, in the center display, among the new releases. Its striking cover catches your eye. The typography seduces you. You come closer, because you must. Once that book in is in your hands, you know it’s coming home with you, and every sentence of its backside blurb confirms for you the rightness of the situation.
You have more errands to run once you leave the bookstore, and it drives you crazy that you can’t tear open its page right now. But you pull it out of the shopping bag and place it, regally, on the passenger seat. You want it to understand your interest.
Casual Dating
When you finally do get a chance to dive into your new reading relationship, the infatuation only grows. You find any and all excuses to sneak some time with your book of choice. You take up recreational bathroom breaks at work, and you upsize the clutches you take out to dinner with you so you can squeeze in some reading between courses.
This is the stage of book love that has you sharing favorite passages on Snapchat, and your Instagram is nothing but various shots of the book in different locations: perched on your lap by the pool, swirled artistically in a blanket on the couch, peeking out from beneath your cat, etc.
Long-Term Relationship
You’d think that once you finish a book, your relationship with it would mostly end. Instead, it’s just the beginning of a much more serious commitment. Now you must proselytize. You must persuade the rest of the world not only of your love but of the belief that they too much love this book. You work the title into conversations entirely unrelated. You compare real-life situations to key plot points (without revealing too much, of course). You shoehorn it in as your book club’s next selection just so you can re-read it.
Till Death Do Us Part
There are some books you know are destined to be bequeathed in your will someday. Your grandchildren, once they have proven their merit through a series of challenges, will inherit this precious tome one day—once they pry it from your cold, dead hands.
These are the books that inspire you to tattoo yourself with their quotations. These are the books that survive countless moves and a number of real-life relationships. These are the books whose covers are falling off because of the number of times you’ve re-read them—and the number of times the dog has yanked them off the nightstand. These are the books who understand the meaning of well-loved.
What books have you in it for the long haul?

Celebra el Mes de la Herencia Hispana con libros que inspiran, emocionan y dejan recuerdos imborrables.

Este Mes de la Herencia Hispana, te invitamos a descubrir una selección de libros para adultos y chicos que destacan el talento, la creatividad y la diversidad de grandiosos escritores latinoamericanos. Son historias que entretienen, inspiran, y nos permiten acercarnos a distintas experiencias y perspectivas, mientas celebramos las aportaciones de la comunidad hispana en los Estados Unidos.

The Black Shield: A Guest Post from Wilbur L. Cooper

In The Black Shield, reporter Wilbert L. Cooper explores the complex lives of Black cops living and working in Cleveland as part of the Black Shield organization. Read on for an essay from Wilbur L. Cooper about writing The Black Shield. When I talk about The Black Shield, I often tell people that I started writing it in 2020, the year of George Floyd's murder. I do this because the book is nominally about Black cops, and in the aftermath of Floyd's murder, there was a lot of talk about diversity as a panacea for the racial problems of American policing. Some people made the argument that the hiring of more Black cops would ensure that what happened to Floyd would never happen again. And it's true, I did spend 2020 talking to experts and historians, diving into police archives and reading studies. I did a lot of real journalism stuff. But if I’m being honest, I didn't start thinking about Black cops in 2020. I've been reflecting on the conflicting promise and plight of Black cops my whole life, because I was born into a family of Black cops. I've had family members in the Cleveland police department since the end of World War II up through the Black Lives Matter Era. And so I’ve been thinking about Black cops and what they mean and what they do since I was a child watching my mother, a strong Black woman named Gayle, don a blue uniform and a silver badge. Even as a little child, I desperately wanted to know who my mother transformed into when she went out into the world with a city-issued gun in her holster. And when there have been these visceral incidents of police violence like George Floyd or Tyre Nichols, I've wondered, What my mother's role could be in an institution like that? What does that killing have to do with the work of my father, my sister, my uncle and great uncles? To answer that question, I've been having talks with my family that I never had before, tracing their journeys into policing, as well as talks with their peers and Black cops from all across the country of various generations. So while The Black Shield encapsulates my own story, it's also filled with all of their testimony. Their witnessing for you from behind the blue wall is more harrowing than what you might hear from an activist who advocates for police abolition. For the readers who are still wondering if diversity can make policing work for Black folks, you will have a lot to think about when reading my book. But The Black Shield also addresses much bigger issues of family, assimilation, survival in America, and freedom. I hope that you all will go on that journey with me.

The Best Audiobooks of September 2026

September brings us cooler nights and the start of fall's biggest releases. Get ready for stories of threshing day with Rebecca Yarros, R. F. Kuang is back with a story of finding home and Harry Connick Jr. pays tribute to his late mother in musical style. These are just some of what's to come this fall season. Shop even more new releases here.