Susan Orlean\'s bestseller and New York Times Notable Book is a sheer delight...as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local Library ( USA TODAY )--a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries.
A Book lover\'s dream...an ambitiously researched, elegantly written Book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories ( Star Tribune , Minneapolis), Susan Orlean\'s thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books--and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country..
In the exquisitely written, consistently entertaining ( The New York Times ) The Library Book , Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the Library to vivid life; studies arson 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 LAPL more than thirty years ago.
Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty 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 into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a delightful...reflection on the past, present, and future of libraries in America ( New York magazine) that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.
By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more.
The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours.
On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library.
Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book ( The Washington Post ).
Susan Orlean\'s bestseller and New York Times Notable Book is a sheer delight...as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local Library ( USA TODAY )--a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries