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What Members Thought
I'm not sure what I expected this book to be, but it wasn't most of them. It's not really true crime. It's more like well-researched narrative and history of the Los Angeles public library—the central branch specifically—centered around the 1986 fire. Orlean is quite the wordsmith. There were several turns of phrase that were masterfully fun and well written.
Recommended to: history lovers and bibliophiles ...more
Recommended to: history lovers and bibliophiles ...more
I was so charmed by this book, which weaves a history of the Los Angeles Central Library, a history of all libraries, true crime, and personal memoir seamlessly. If you have warm childhood (or adult) memories of your public library, or you love LA, or you appreciate well-written narrative nonfiction, you will likely enjoy this book.
This book was an absolute joy to read. When Susan and I spoke about it on The Secret Library podcast, she mentioned that she worked very hard to keep the length reasonable, but I gladly would have gone on reading for many more pages. This book had everything a book nerd loves: libraries, kooky characters, history, and the thread of a love of books running through the entire story.
Susan weaves multiple threads together in this book: the mystery of the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire, the hi ...more
Susan weaves multiple threads together in this book: the mystery of the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire, the hi ...more
If you love non-fiction that reads like fiction, this will be your favorite book for a long time. The Los Angeles Public Library serves as the protagonist, fire the antagonist, and every book and person in the library's long history are supporting characters that tell the stories of the building, the books, and of knowledge itself. As a librarian, I wept as the flames stole millions of pages from bookshelves and readers in Los Angeles, and continued to grieve as Orlean details the long history o
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This is a really involved account of everyday life in libraries (which ultimately overshadows the underlying historical event that inspired the book). It's so detailed in fact, that I found it kind of boring, mostly because for me it held little surprise. That being said - if you ARE interested in how a modern-day library works - I don't know of a more complete (and accessible) description of the day to day operations of libraries - particularly urban libraries.
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2018 Read Harder Challenge #2 - A book of true crime
Sep 28, 2018
anne
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Oct 02, 2018
Alison
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Nov 04, 2018
Mandy
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Nov 17, 2018
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Dec 30, 2018
vivike
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Jan 02, 2019
Erin
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Jan 17, 2019
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Feb 02, 2019
Kristen
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Mar 08, 2019
Kai
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