April 2, 2025 – The Cedar Rapids Public Library is made possible by our incredible staff. And we are staffed by book lovers. To celebrate the people who keep our library running, we're highlighting different staff members and books they love.
David Singer is a shelver at the Downtown Library, and has been working at the library since November 2022. Shelvers keep the library functioning by sorting and returning books to the correct shelves and making sure you can find the titles you're looking for.
"There are a lot of things I love about my job as a library shelver. It's great getting to work on a small team with a variety of responsibilities that we can divide up, and I always enjoy any opportunity to support our wonderful coworkers in other departments, such as public service and materials," he said.
Browse David's book recommendations below, and put books on hold in our catalog by clicking on their covers.
"The Once and Future King" by T.H. White
T.H. White dusted off Arthurian legend to create this miracle of a novel, which somehow manages to be both modern and mythic, personal and universal, hilarious and heartbreaking, irreverent and profound, often all at the same time. Arthur, Merlyn, Guenever, and especially Lancelot are among my favorite characters in all of fiction, no less alive or three-dimensional for being based on centuries-old archetypes. They are well-intentioned people who fail to live up to their ideals, but their story is told with such a deep affection for humanity, warts and all, that I'm close to tears when I reach its tragic and stirring final pages. White presents Arthur's legend as a testament to mankind's potential to do better.
"Wyrd Sisters" by Terry Pratchett
This is one of the best starting points for anyone interested in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. It follows a coven of witches, consisting of severe Granny Weatherwax, jolly Nanny Ogg, and fanciful Magrat Garlick, who inadvertently get themselves involved in local politics when the duke of their backwater mountain kingdom is murdered by a scheming relative and his son is spirited from the castle by a loyal servant. Shakespeare parodies ensue.
"Right Ho, Jeeves" by P.G. Wodehouse
Next to Terry Pratchett, P.G. Wodehouse is my favorite comedic writer. I'd recommend any of his books starring foppish man-about-town Bertie Wooster and his genius valet, Jeeves. However, this is probably the best one to start with. Bertie possesses one of the funniest first-person voices I've ever read. Like most of his misadventures, this is a delightfully farcical tale of mild inconveniences, romantic misunderstandings, and failed schemes set at an idyllic English country estate.
"True Grit" by Charles Portis
While Bertie Wooster may be the funniest first-person narrator I've read, Mattie Ross is not far behind. Most people know of her companion Rooster Cogburn from the movie adaptations, but fans of Charles Portis' book know that Mattie is the true star of the story, worthy of a place alongside Huckleberry Finn and Scout Finch in the pantheon of great American characters. A bratty and principled fourteen-year-old from Arkansas, she hunts her father's killer across the snowy Oklahoma wilderness like a vengeful Dorothy, with Rooster and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf acting as her own scarecrow and tin man. Read the book and you'll have no doubt which character the title refers to. You'll be "buffaloed with her saucy ways."
"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon
Josef Kavalier, an aspiring young artist, magician, and admirer of Harry Houdini, flees Nazi Europe and travels to New York City with the hope of making enough money to rescue his parents and younger brother. He moves in with his entrepreneurial cousin, Sammy Clay, and together, they dream up the comic book hero known as the Escapist. Living vicariously through their super-powered creation, Josef wages an imaginary war against the forces he is helpless to fight in real life. Meanwhile, Sammy seeks his own kind of escape as he finds himself trapped in the closet by a society not quite so far removed from the one his cousin left behind. Their story is an epic that spans decades and continents, exploring themes of Jewish identity, the American Dream, and the power of fantasy, all brought to life by Michael Chabon's luxuriant and precise prose.