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.
Susan Orlean takes on a favorite subject for readers everywhere - and is back to form This is a terrific book, Susan Orlean at her considerable best. Her only peer for nonfiction is John McPhee, in my opinion. If you are a reader, you probably already have a profound attachment to and curiosity about libraries and librarians. Orlean's book will satisfy your curiosity and reaffirm your attachment.This book has her signature combination of threads that add up to a whole: we hear about the horrendous fire at the LA main library, we trace the early history of the library and its colorful head librarians, we hear about the issues that face libraries today (homeless users) and we hear about the puzzling self-contradictory man who was accused of but probably did not start the library fire. Orleans knows that people like to read about other interestisng people, so she switches among library staff, the arson suspect and his family, and current library staff.She also knows that people like to get the inside story about institutions and places we mostly see from the outside as customers or users. So we get plenty of both. Sure you probably knew that being able to reserve books over the Internet vastly increased the resources devoted to shipping books from branch to branch, but Orlean makes it concrete by visiting the LA library shipping facility. And so on. As with Orlean, there's not a word out of place or a non-telling detail.So if you care about libraries at all, this is the book for you. Perhaps introducing each chapter with a few catalog entries (I almost said catalog cards, but there are no such things any more) is a bit cute, but it doesn't really get in the way. And if you thought her previous book about Rin Tin Tin wasn't up to her best, don't worry. This one definitely is.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.Marvelous I would have never believed that libraries could be so fascinating. In addition to informing us of all the library’s multi-faceted dimensions, Orlean tells the riveting story of the fire that destroyed the LA Library and the search for who or what started it. Beautifully written.
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