The end of April 1986 lives in the minds of many for the Chernobyl disaster that happened on April 26th. The meltdown monopolized the news for days, if not weeks. And because everybody was in fear that it was the end of the world, many missed the news of the fire that destroyed more than a million books at the Los Angeles Public Library. The arson inspectors believe they know who started the fire, but to this day, nobody has been punished for their actions.
Author Susan Orlean had thought that she was done with writing. And then she took a tour of Central Library, the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. It was on this tour that she first heard about the fire of 1986. And she knew that she had to write about it. The Library Book is part true crime novel, part love story. The love story being between the author and her love affair with books and libraries. She reminisces about her childhood visits to the library and she takes the reader on a descriptive tour of the Los Angeles Public Library as it stands now. And there is so much more to the LAPL than just a place to check out books. It is a place that people gather to research genealogy. It is a place they call to get questions answered. It is one of the only libraries in the country where they can go to get a diploma. Not just a GED certificate, but a diploma. It is a place they go to use a computer. And it is a place they go to learn how to speak and read English. In fact, Chapter 17 speaks to the Literacy Center and the author interviewed a teacher and a tutor. Both were names that I recognized from work.
Susan Orlean weaves the history of the library, the details surrounding the fire, and present-day life at the library in alternating chapters. Each chapter starts with a list of books, their authors, and their Dewey Decimal number. And each title listed gives the reader a clue as to the topic of the chapter. It was fun. And I found myself trying to guess the chapter's outcome based on the titles. And of course, there is the mystery that surrounds the crime itself. It isn't "edge of your seat" kind of suspense, but it was engaging and tastefully woven into the rest of the book.
Bottom Line - As a devoted bookworm, I absolutely loved The Library Book. It brought up the memories of my own early days as a library patron. It was nostalgia at it's best. Definitely not one to be missed.
Details:
- The Library Book by Susan Orlean
- On Twitter
- Pages: 336
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- Publication Date: 10/16/2018
- Buy it Here!
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