The Library Book

by Susan Orlean

[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/