Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr (Scribner; LJ starred review), is the top holds title of the week (9/20/21). LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for patrons waiting to read this buzziest book.

“Doerr’s first book since his Pulitzer Prize–winning All the Light We Cannot See, and even grander in conception and delivery, takes its name from an imagined realm referenced in Aristophanes’s play The Birds. In present-day Idaho, Korean War veteran Zeno directs five energetic fifth graders in the production of a play called Cloud Cuckoo Land, which he reconstructed from an ancient Greek novel that he’d translated, even as activist teenager Seymour plans an attack centered on the public library where they rehearse. The play is connected to a young orphan named Anna dwelling in Constantinople as it falls to the Ottomans; a Balkans village boy named Omeir who supports the sultan’s attack with his team of oxen; and Konstance, who decades in the future travels on an interstellar spacecraft headed for exoplanet Beta Oph2. Decidedly outsiders and mostly young people (even Zeno’s plot is partly backstory of his difficult early years), these characters are deftly maneuvered by the capable Doerr. What results is a glorious golden mesh of stories that limns the transformative power of literature and our need both to dream big and to arrive back home in a world that will eventually flow on without us. VERDICT Highly recommended.”—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

READ-ALIKES

The Conductors by Nicole Glover (Mariner)
Appeared on the March 2021 LibraryReads list

“Hetty and Benjy meet as Underground Railroad conductors, settling in Pennsylvania where they’re known for their celestial magic and problem solving. Glover does an incredible job of world building in this supernatural mystery, merging details of post-Civil War history with people who are inherently magical. Her cast is almost exclusively Black, and the characters are rich and fully realized, with Hetty and Benjy’s relationship showcased as a lovely progression of romantic ideals. For readers of N. K. Jemisin and Victor LaValle.”—Rachel Reddick, Denver P.L.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Tor.com; LJ starred review)
Appeared on the July 2021 LibraryReads list

“The quiet life of a tea monk is interrupted when a robot arrives after centuries to honor a promise to check in. The robot cannot return to the wilderness until the question of ‘what do people need?’ is answered. This is a book I will be recommending to everyone! For readers who enjoyed The Bear and The House in the Cerulean Sea.”—Liz Aleshunas, St. Louis P.L.
 

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury USA; LJ starred review)

Appeared on the September 2020 LibraryReads list

“Piranesi is the sole inhabitant of a mysterious ‘house’ with endless rooms full of statues and a surging ocean below. With lyrical and hypnotic writing in his journal, he guides readers through his beloved labyrinthine home and introduces ‘The Other,’ a sporadic visitor and the only other living human being…or so he thought. For fans of The Starless Sea and The Bedlam Stacks.”—Catherine Tarver, Indian Prairie P.L., Darien, IL