The Library Book

by Susan Orlean

• ISBN10: 1476740186
• ISBN13: 9781476740188
• Publish Date: 16 October 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Goodreads Updates

Susan Orlean's voice droned though out the book, and I almost felt as if she was bored and just going through the motions.  I did speed up the pace on my audiobook which did help, but I still felt like I was being read a book by my high school English teacher.



Yes, yes I did hear that right and I almost turned the book off then and there.  Considering the author claims to love libraries, the thought of burning a book, just to see what it feels like sounds insane.  Ironicly, the chosen book was Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.  I have to wonder if she literary saw the irony or if this was "like rain on your wedding day."



What the novel detailed about the LAPL fire could have fit into a short story. The majority of The Library Book was on the author's love for libraries or educating us on the Dewey Decimal System. Instead of being informative it came off as if I were reading someone's dissertation and was as dry as paper after a fire.



I feel repetitive, but The Library Book was more like a string of thoughts with what Susan Orlean felt we should be educated on.  Occasionally she would remember what the book was suppose to be about and throw the reader a bone with an antidote about Harry Peak, the supposed arsonist.



Sadly, I know just as much about the Los Angeles Public Library and Harry Peak as I did going into the book -- which is pretty much nothing.  The Library Book was more of a ramble instead of the promised true crime on the library fire.  Overall,  it was a disappointing listen and is twelve hours I'll never get back.

This review was originally posted on First Impressions Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

What a fascinating story rich with details and facts but not written in a factual way. The book describes not only this horrific fire but describes the evolution of the central library. You get quite a range of Information it a rich book that will really open your eyes to the value and work surrounding libraries. Quite a eye opening read.

[alisoninbookland]

I found the history and behind the scenes information to be really interesting especially as a library employee.

I'm in the minority here and it's not because it wasn't well written, it's because I had completely different expectations of what this book was about. I thought it was going to be about the mystery of who burned down the library, not a history of libraries. I love to read, I love going to my library so I decided to keep going and give it a chance once I figured out this was more just about libraries and how they have evolved with the times. I finished it for that reason. The writing was good, and I can appreciate the amount of research she did. There was just way too much detail about libraries than I care to read about. If I knew this was a book about libraries and what goes on in them I would not have picked it up.

[Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub]

The Los Angeles Library caught fire in April of 1986, destroying hundreds of thousands of books. I’m not going to lie, that was hard to read. A lot of these books were irreplaceable, like an 1860 illustrated copy of Don Quixote. Hundreds of thousands more were badly damaged.

Despite sounding like this wouldn’t be interesting for longer than the length of an article, this book is fascinating. I was invested in it from beginning to end, thanks in large part to the author’s attention to detail.

I do sometimes wonder, with nonfiction: is everyone interviewed actually remembering things that clearly, or do authors add their own flavor to the book? Thoughts on that? I wonder simply because my own memory is so flawed that reading the incredibly descriptive writing was very impressive.

Either way, this is a book worth reading. I really enjoyed it and, as someone who doesn’t read a ton of nonfiction, it’s encouraged me to to look for more nonfiction gems.

https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2018/12/12/the-library-book-by-susan-orlean/