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One of my favorite things about visiting the Peace Corps office in Georgetown, Guyana, was the library. OK first was the air conditioning. Then the library. It was more like a stuffed shelf, but it held books brought to the country by Peace Corps volunteers, then left and shared again and again.

Until that point, I’d only ever bought books or borrowed them from the library. I shared a few with roommates and friends. But this was a vast and random collection that helped fill quiet nights and introduced me to authors I had not yet discovered. Among the books I inhaled in those two years were “100 Years of Solitude,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Harry Potter.”

I thought of that crowded library last week when people started sharing their favorite books by journalists after I wrote about three I’d recently read. I promise this is not becoming a “books by journalists” newsletter (although I would subscribe to that.) But since I have this collection, I wanted to pass it on in hopes you can find something worth reading from this virtual stuffed shelf of other people’s books.

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The Oregonian’s Amy Wang recommends these, and I’m listening because she’s the books editor. (You can sign up for her newsletter, Bookmarks.)

Jeff Young, managing editor of Ohio Valley ReSource, recommends “Appalachian Fall: Dispatches From Coal Country On What’s Ailing America.” The book “includes lots of on-the-ground reporting on big developments in small Appalachian communities, such as the Blackjewel miners' protest. We also highlight our major investigations into the resurgence of black lung disease and the West Virginia governor's failure to pay taxes and mine safety fines. None of this reporting would have been possible without a collaborative approach to regional journalism.”

I also heard about ”Chesapeake Requiem” by Earl Swift, “American OZ: An Astonishing Year Inside Traveling Carnivals at State Fairs & Festivals: Hitchhiking From California to New York, Alaska to Mexico,” by Michael Sean Comerford, and I am adding to my list “She Come By It Natural,” by Sarah Smarsh.

Thanks to everyone who shared what they’re reading!

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That’s it for me. 

Get some rest.​​​​​​

Kristen
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