From the Bookshelf of Arrangement and Description: Archivists At Large…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
This is an interesting - and entertaining - read...
It's a book that has several different stories from different cultures and different times - woven together...
The main protagonist is a present-day Australian rare book conservator whose work takes her to war-torn Sarajevo to restore a precious Haggadah...
Those connected with the book - in different eras and locales - tell their parts of the whole through the body of the story...
One thing that I love about it is that archivists - and those who c ...more
It's a book that has several different stories from different cultures and different times - woven together...
The main protagonist is a present-day Australian rare book conservator whose work takes her to war-torn Sarajevo to restore a precious Haggadah...
Those connected with the book - in different eras and locales - tell their parts of the whole through the body of the story...
One thing that I love about it is that archivists - and those who c ...more
May 15, 2015
Susan D'Entremont
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
book-club
Greatly enjoyed this book. Although I knew a bit about the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, I wasn't very familiar about the other settings in this book as the story followed a hagaddah on its journey through hundreds of years. Because there were so many changes in setting and character, sometimes I got a little confused, but losing a few details didn't hurt my enjoyment of the story. I found the characters and the small details of the plot to be fascinating. The one romantic interest of the story wa
...more
This was a fascinating book travelling through the history of a small haggadah, a Jewish prayer book used at a seider, as seen through the eyes of the conservator who is getting it ready for display.
Brooks is a terrific, imaginative writer. When she wrote about the 'history' of the Sarajevo Haggadah, she was at the top of her game. The love story involving the conservator and the museum director--eh, not so much. Don't let that detract you from diving into this remarkable story.
...more
One of my favorite books of last year. Has archivist/book preservationist main character. Love the reverse chronological stories about the Sarajevo Haggadah she is researching. My book group discussed it this month.
I probably wouldn't have liked this so much if I wasn't an archivist by trade. The story wasn't that compelling, but I loved the talk of her conservation work and her historical research.
...more
"As for my dysfunctional so-called family, it's true that I've inherited a core belief, to wit: dont rely on some other sod for your emotional sustenance. Find something absorbing to do--something so absorbing that you don't have time to dwell on the woe-is-me-stuff...." All that plus archives and libraries and conservation...very good read.
...more
Finally got my hands on this one. I hope that it is worth the wait, the reviews were great and it was highly anticipated.
Worth reading!! Took me a whole weekend to read. Great author.
Worth reading!! Took me a whole weekend to read. Great author.
Mar 28, 2012
Liesl
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorites,
thought-provoking-f
