From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

The Library Book

Susan Orlean

Start date: January 28, 2019

Finish date: February 12, 2019

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What Members Thought

Feb 17, 2019 Martin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019books

A great, fun, consistently enjoyable book. You don't have to be a library lover to enjoy it...but it sure helps.

The overall arson-investigation throughline was a wee bit slender but the description of the LA Library fire itself was every bit as mesmerizing as actually watching fire. That section was as good and gripping and fascinating as anything I've ever read. Utterly and completely worth the price of admission.

Anyway, there's also lots of kooky library history that was a blast (spoiler alert ...more

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Mar 24, 2019 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: american-nonfiction, nonfiction, christmas-2019-wish-list, la

This book is a microhistory that reads like a novel. I could not put it down! In The Library Book, Susan Orlean investigates the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles' Central Public Library, one of the city's worst fires, and one of the most devastating library fires anywhere, in recorded history. Along the way, she also chronicles the library's history from its very beginnings up to the present. The atmospheric writing will draw you into the world of the library and leave you forgetting you're not phys ...more

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