Megan Rosenbloom
By Rebecca Markwick, on 16 March 2021
Megan Rosenbloom
I chat with academic Librarian Megan Rosenbloom this week all about the therapeutic effects of reading and her thoughts about the joy of libraries. We discuss Megan’s strong belief in death positivity and how this causes her to constantly strive to read all of the books, very rarely rereading.
We also chat about her book Dark Archives and how historic medical books affect the wellbeing of the researcher and reader. There’s a lovely thought about how Ulysses is best read in a community as well.
Photo by Polly Antonia Barrowman
Show Notes
I chat to the lovely academic librarian Megan Rosenbloom this week all about her thoughts on therapeutic reading, death positivity, researching human skin books, and how Ulysses has stayed with her and should be read as part of a community.
There is so much in this episode, brilliant ideas about librarianship along with a hidden gem of an archive open to the public. Megan’s constant journey to read all the books that she can, and how being a medical librarian affected her way of looking at books. There is book history and book anecdotes galore in this glorious extra long episode!
I would also thoroughly recommed Megan’s fantastic book Dark Archives.
Megan’s photo for this episode by Polly Antonia Barrowman.
Authors, works, and places mentioned:
Authors
Ernest Becker
Works
Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin by Megan Rosenbloom
A Cat’s Tale: A Journey Through Feline History by Baba the Cat and Paul Koudounaris
The Dreamsongs by John Berryman
Ulysses by James Joyce
Places
The Rosenbach – museum in Philadelphia
The Huntingdon Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens – in LA