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Reading behind Bars
Reading behind Bars: A Memoir of Literature, Law, and Life as a Prison Librarian | Grunenwald Jill
8 posts | 5 read | 13 to read
In December 2008, twentysomething Jill Grunenwald graduated with her masters degree in library science, ready to start living her dream of becoming a librarian. But the economy had a different idea. As the Great Recession reared its ugly head, jobs were scarce. After some searching, however, Jill was lucky enough to snag one of the few librarian gigs left in her home state of Ohio. The catch? The job was behind bars as the prison librarian at a mens minimum-security prison. Talk about baptism by fire. As an untested twentysomething woman, to say that the job was out of Jills comfort zone was an understatement. She was forced to adapt on the spot, speedily learning to take the metal detectors, hulking security guards, and colorful inmates in stride. Over the course of a little less than two years, Jill came to see past the bleak surroundings and the orange jumpsuits and recognize the humanity of the men stuck behind bars. They were just like every other library patronpersons who simply wanted to read, to be educated and entertained through the written word. By helping these inmates, Jill simultaneously began to recognize the humanity in everyone and to discover inner strength that she never knew she had. At turns poignant and hilarious, Reading behind Bars is a perfect read for fans of Orange is the New Black and Shakespeare Saved My Life.
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Nikki_E
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38 likes1 stack add
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Nikki_E
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Katies_always_booked
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Pickpick

First book of 2021 🥇I‘ve been following the author for several years as the cohost to the @probooknerds podcast. This is her memoir from when she worked as a prison librarian. I couldn‘t put this book down - Jill‘s writing style is fun and compelling. I really enjoyed the stories, something that would be so scary to most of us if we were thrown into the same job and how she found encouragement and appreciation of working with inmates. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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squirrelbrain
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Mehso-so

I feel awful for giving this a so-so rating as there‘s nothing wrong with it, just nothing happens and I didn‘t get any insight into prisons or what prisoners read, and how libraries might inspire them. (Sample story- one day the snow was so bad the author only made it halfway to work before she had to turn back and.... that was it!)

I gained far more from another recent book (The Prison Doctor) so I would recommend that one instead.

TheBookHippie I enjoyed this one 4y
squirrelbrain That one sounds more like it @TheBookHippie - stacked! 4y
TheBookHippie @squirrelbrain I hope you enjoy it! 4y
59 likes3 comments
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Geemom1118
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Pickpick

This book sounded interesting to me so I thought I would check out this Bookbub deal. I really enjoyed this one a lot. If you haven‘t read it give it a shot!

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BookFreakOut
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My mom won a volunteerism award for serving as our local jail librarian, and the newspaper wrote a very nice article about her! 😁📚🌟🎉 I'm the daughter that gets a little shoutout along with my older brother.
https://themercury.com/features/people/our-neighbors-woman-shares-love-for-readi...

merelybookish That's great! Your mom rocks! 4y
TheSpineView That's awesome! 👍 4y
Reviewsbylola That‘s so cool! 4y
See All 7 Comments
BookFreakOut @merelybookish Thanks, I agree! 😄 I have no chill and regularly declare that I want to be like her. 4y
Tamra Yay!! 4y
rather_be_reading awesome!! 4y
britt_brooke This is fantastic! 👏🏻 4y
33 likes7 comments
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ShyBookOwl
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Just heard about this upcoming book on the podcast Reading Glasses. Seems like a really unique and fascinating experience to share with the world!

JoScho I am weirdly obsessed with prison stuff like this. 5y
ShyBookOwl @JoScho I've not read a lot of prison stuff, but this one sparks my curiosity 5y
BooknerdsLife This one seems very interesting! 5y
71 likes5 stack adds3 comments