Title: The Library Book Pdf
Susan Orlean, hailed as a "national treasure" by The Washington Post and the acclaimed best-selling author of Rin Tin Tin and The Orchid Thief, reopens the unsolved mystery of the most catastrophic library fire in American history and delivers a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution - our libraries.
On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual false alarm. As one fireman recounted later, "Once that first stack got going, it was good-bye, Charlie." The fire was disastrous: It reached 2,000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than 30 years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library - and if so, who?
Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading with the fascinating history of libraries and the sometimes eccentric characters who run them, award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author Susan Orlean presents a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling story as only she can. With her signature wit, insight, compassion, and talent for deep research, she investigates the legendary Los Angeles Public Library fire to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives.
To truly understand what happens behind the stacks, Orlean visits the different departments of the LAPL, encountering an engaging cast of employees and patrons and experiencing alongside them the victories and struggles they face in today's climate. She also delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from a metropolitan charitable initiative to a cornerstone of national identity. She reflects on her childhood experiences in libraries; studies fire and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the library more than 30 years ago. Along the way, she reveals how these buildings provide much more than just books - and that they are needed now more than ever.
Filled with heart, passion, and unforgettable characters, The Library Book is classic Susan Orlean and an homage to a beloved institution that remains a vital part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country and culture.
Awesome and amazing! I was a bit skeptical at first - most non fiction tends to get tedious and dry at some point in the book. But this was fantastic, and more than ever I want to explore my own public library! The author’s prose is captivating and I was drawn into the story of the library fire and her conclusions of what may have happened. Well worth it!Can we talk about Chapter 5? SPOILER ALERT. In Chapter 5, the author burns a book. In a story of a devastating fire in a library, seven hundred thousand books destroyed, librarians crying and exhausted volunteers, the author burns a book to see how it feels. What? Assuming she had editors, how was this chapter left in? I don’t understand.Very Disappointing -- Vastly Overwritten I suppose mine is a minority opinion. It was tough plowing through this overwritten book. No note card failed to find its way into this book, and no fact was too tangential to include. The author's use of first-person narration and her (to my mind) sentimental and juvenile observations on this or that were cloying. If one wants to know nearly every conceivable fact about the LA library system and its history and many of its staff, this is the place to look. Students of arson may also find pages of interest here. This general reader -- who loves and is interested in libraries as institutions -- was disappointed.
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