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What Members Thought
This book was so much more than it was advertised to be. It is supposed to be the story of the Los Angeles Public Library fire of 1986 and the mystery around who might (or might not) have started it. So if you're hoping for 336 pages of fire department investigations and trials, you might be disappointed, because the book only covers this for part of the time. Those chapters are fascinating--sometimes devastating (the pain of watching your library in flames) and sometimes frustrating and quirky
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I loved this book! I loved the intertwining of past and present, but I loved the library most.
This book is a mash note to libraries. It’s not the story of a crime and a tragedy, though those events may (emphasis on “may”) be recounted in the text. Over and over, the author returns to the purpose of libraries. She advocates form and function and mission and individual. She sings the praises of history, and both mourns and recognizes the transitory and ephemeral nature of a single book. It may burn or turn to mush in the water dousing that fire or mold and rot. The libraries too are transi
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Maybe 3.75/4 stars... I often pick books at random based on the cover or the title without reading the blurb just to be surprised. This was one of those picks. And, as I was reading - since I had no idea what it was supposed to be about - I couldn't figure out if I was reading a fiction or non-fiction book. It reads as both at times. But, more than that, it reads as a love story to books and libraries and librarians - so many of my favorite things.
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9-9-19: I'm putting this aside, at least for now. I'm listening to the audio on my commute, and the number of threads this book follows and the way they are presented is just incompatible with the length and timing of my commute. I did learn some really interesting facts -- I didn't know anything about the terrible fire in the Los Angeles Public Library before this book, and there was also an interesting aside that provided a little bit of the history of the Atlanta library system, which I didn'
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This book was an interesting read. A bit difficult to get into at first, very dense with information, but a combination of crime mystery and ode to libraries in the end.
Probably closer to 3.5 stars. It was interesting, but meandered a bit in directions that I didn't always enjoy. (But I *did* enjoy some of the other meanderings, sooooooooo take it with a grain of salt.)
It goes way beyond just "The LA Central Library Fire" and its surrounding mystery - it goes very deep into the history of the LA Library in general, including biographies of some of its more famous directors (City Librarians) and other important figures. ...more
It goes way beyond just "The LA Central Library Fire" and its surrounding mystery - it goes very deep into the history of the LA Library in general, including biographies of some of its more famous directors (City Librarians) and other important figures. ...more
Part arson investigation, part history of the Los Angeles Central Library, part love letter to all libraries. I loved this book, and if you love books and libraries too, you might also.
Nov 13, 2018
Natalie
marked it as to-read
Nov 14, 2018
Anne
marked it as to-read
Nov 20, 2018
Cassandra Moore
marked it as to-read
Nov 21, 2018
Jody Rowan
marked it as to-read
Dec 20, 2018
Sarah McKenna
marked it as to-read
Dec 22, 2018
Elizabeth
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Apr 16, 2019
Rebecca Fumia Patel
marked it as to-read
Jun 13, 2019
CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph
marked it as to-read
