Love this review. I volunteer at our local library to help shelve books and it's so great to see so many people in and out of the building when I'm there. It's truly a public treasure.
oh Brian, what a wonderful in-depth review!!! It was perfect. You covered everything. Funny enough, I also got this book for Christmas. My goal is to get to it by the end of March. I watched Orlean be interviewed for this channel called "Politics and Prose" where a bookstore invites authors to speak, and I fell in love with what she had to say. I had no idea of her cinematic background. Thank you for this lovely review
Thank you. I'm not sure she was completely happy with how the screenplay for _The Orchid Thief_ came out -- the character based on her and with her name did drugs and, well, some other stuff, that the real Susan Orlean didnt do. But I think the film sold alot of copies of the book so she probably decided it was ok.
This was a great review Brian. I haven't read The Library Book yet, but I did see Susan Orlean on Book TV, and she is a very interesting person. You are right that it is a very beautiful book, we get so used to dust jackets that I think we forget that a book can be a work of art in itself. The library has always been an important part of my life since I was very young, and I think we should patronize them as much as we can because to lose them would be a tragedy.
Lillian, my local library growing up was in tiny, rural Jemez Springs, New Mexico. It was about the size of a micro-bus. I must have read every book available to us in that tiny library. I will never forget the first time I stepped into a real university library at about the age of 30. I was dumbstruck by the vast aisles of bound journals. It was then that I understood that libraries are not just storehouses for books - they are repositories for the Wisdom and Knowledge of the World. ..!!
Thank you Lillian. I hope you get a chance to read it. There were probably dozens of passages and descriptions that reminded me of the little library in my home town. I was going to use a picture of my home town library for the video thumbnail, but they renovated it and now it doesn't look like it did when I was a kid, so I went with my college library for the thumbnail instead.
I agree with you that this book is about ALL aspects of the Los Angeles Central Library. I especially enjoyed the description of the various rooms and the ambiance of each. I also liked reading about the various librarians of this library, both present and past. I was a librarian for several years after a long career as a teacher and this book is one of my favorites of 2018. A wonderful homage to this library!
That's kind of amazing. I've been a teacher for thirty years and was considering going back to school for library science after I retire next year. This book makes me think I might really enjoy it as a second career.
Bookish Interesting! I taught 35 years and was a librarian for 5 1/2 years. I didn’t get a degree in library science. I worked in a small town library. Except for subs I did everything. I was trained by the state and took many online classes to keep up my certification. It was a natural career change for me. Sounds like it would fit for you too! Good luck if you do this. I found it every bit as rewarding as teaching.
I am very much intrigued by this book. Hopefully, this year. I was very interested to hear that there was more than just the true crime aspect. I love immersion journalism. I hadn’t heard that term before, but that’s definitely my thing.
Oh this sounds fantastic. The way you describe immersive journalism makes it sound so compelling. Definitely going on my list because I do adore libraries so much. Glad to have the warning that it's less on the true crime aspect, though. Sometimes the wrong expectation can make a book much more disappointing.
Ok, no questions asked, I need that book in my life! Just looking at it makes me smile. I love libraries, and spent a lot of time in my local branch growing up.
Truly fascinating - inside and out. I remember the card catalogues, the envelopes, all of it. I miss libraries here most of all. BTW, one frigid NY winter I was visiting my daughter and couldn't take the cold anymore. Where did I find shelter? The library close-by. Warmth and books! What could be better?
That's a great story about the library as the perfect shelter from the cold. I have similar memories of card catalogues and loving trips to the library as a kid.
I have this on my list to read and want to read it for next Christmas for the Patreon book club--sounds like it is heartwarming enough to be a good holiday pick 😉😍
Funnily enough the crime aspect of this book was the least appealing to me, I was much more intrigued by the fact it was about libraries in general. I still love the fact that my little library has the dates and stamps of all the people who borrowed the book before me which bigger libraries no longer do and think libraries are such precious resources. The book itself reminds me a little of some Franklin library editions from the late 1970's that a neighbor gifted me, beautiful books. Great review Brian.
Another sweet review (yer just knocking em out) and after hearing it, I know I'd adore this book. Since a kid I've loved libraries; hell, it was an excuse to get away ... the Dewey Decimal System? Egad, remember that? I have a collection of about a dozen Library Cards from different cities around America I've lived in. D.T. Portland's Central library is over 150 year's old, and Ive toured it, twice. (The second I made a vid, bit felt awkward and shy, intrusive, filming it. I should have asked the guild to film. I bet it's no biggie. Maybe Ill re-visit the tour?) Moreover? Librarians are SEXY!
I would really like too see a video of the Portland Library. I hope you do ask permission and make one. This book reminded me of how important my local library was to me as a kid and has motivated me to visit and support my local library now even more.
