"The Library Book" will speak to all book lovers. Susan Orlean has written a beautiful, heartfelt love letter to libraries that will resonate with all of us who love books themselves and simply being in a room surrounded by books. She praises the library as a temple dedicated to books and distinguishes the library from bookstores by evoking the particular smell of a library and the psychological rush that a reader will feel after leaving the library with an armful of borrowed books.

Please remember this book while shopping for gifts this holiday season. The book lover on your list needs "The Library Book."

The Library Book is a wonderful gift to everyone who reads. Written by an exceptionally skilled journalist – one whose thorough research and interviews are woven into literary non-fiction that’s simply spellbinding.

The Library Book is an emotional read for any book lover. Susan Orlean begins by explaining why such a tragic event – the loss of over 400,000 books, another 700,000 damaged and the Los Angeles Public Library (Uptown)closed for six years – was crowded out of the global news by the Chernobyl disaster.

Part of the book is spent exploring the arson investigation, suspects and its outcome. But sandwiched in-between is the history of the Los Angeles Public Library along with personal experiences and observations of libraries, including interesting information about libraries around the world throughout the history of printed books.

Susan Orlean’s words will evoke memories, smiles, laughter, tears and even anger as she describes libraries, their impact in local communities, the abuse suffered throughout world history and the myriad of benefits libraries provide.

The Library Book is a powerful tribute to libraries and librarians around the world. Ms. Orlean deserves a big hug from everyone who uses their library for this amazing homage.

A must read for anyone who simply loves books. The Library Book chronicles the 1986 fire of the Los Angeles Public Library. This fire burned for seven hours and was thought to be the product of arson. Susan Orleans also talks about various literary/library people, such as Mary Foy who at eighteen in 1880 became the first head librarian of the LAPL when this position had mainly been held by men. Non-fiction isn’t a genre I am typically drawn to, but this book is a must read for all book worms.

I have a special place in my heart for authors who are able to write books about subjects that don’t sound particularly interesting yet somehow manage to keep me engaged and interested...such is the case with Susan Orlean’s newest non-fiction book about the history of...wait for it...libraries! The book begins by recounting the 1986 Los Angeles Library Fire, considered to be the largest library fire in history (it reached 2000 degrees, burned for more than seven hours, destroying 400,000 books and damaging 700,000 more). As Orlean investigates the fire, the book expands and explores the history of libraries (in particular the Los Angeles Central Library) as well as their importance and impact on local communities still to this day. As someone with fond memories of the library (growing up we weren’t allowed to watch tv, so my mom took my sister and I to the library every week), I have a newfound appreciation for how important the library is; with the rise of ebooks and amazon, i think it’s easy to take the library for granted when it’s still providing valuable services to the community (many that have nothing to do with books!). If you’re a bibliophile, this one is definitely worth checking out (pun intended!)...this one is released tomorrow; thanks as always to #netgalley and #SimonandSchuster for the advanced copy!

I received an ARC from Netgalley for a review. What I was expecting was a true crime story about the fire of the Los Angeles Library in 1986 which I had a vague recollection of hearing. What I got was a rambling history of the library (some interesting details), the fire, but a lot of back and forth that left me a bit annoyed because I never knew where the author was going. The photos were nice; there was a short bibliography at the beginning of each chapter which at some points were a bit odd I found. As a library technician who catalogues and has worked in the library field for over 30 years I expected to love this book and although I found some of it quite interesting and entertaining, I felt let down..

"The Library Book" is a library in and of itself. There is mystery, suspense, biography, history, and it all leads to a a love story of a grand institution - the library. In this case it's the central library of the Los Angeles Library, but so much of the book can be a reference to any public library.
Ms. Orleans fell in love with the library as a child, visiting the library with her mother. It's in her blood! Her prose, whether talking about the building, the history, the horrible fire that decimated the central library, is poetic and passionate.
I can truly say that this is a book that everyone should read. It is a reminder of the importance these places of community and learning and fun and comfort hold in our country.

Reading The Library Book by Susan Orlean put me in mind of the braids I used to do with my hair. One strand begins with the fire alarm on April 29, 1986 at the Los Angeles Public Library. The second strand follows the most noted suspect Harry Peak, and the third strand uses that library to incorporate the history of libraries and their importance to our lives. The author cleverly begins each chapter with a sampling of books with the author and their checkout numbers.

The fire, thought to be arson, consumed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more. The seven-hour fire had temperatures that reached 2,000 degrees. Condolences poured in from across the United States and around the world. Susan records other library fires, many of them also set deliberately, and compares them to this one. She concludes that war is the greatest slayer of libraries with some of the destruction incidental and some intentional.

Suspect Harry Peak entertains as investigators return to him repeatedly only to get an embellished or different story each time about his whereabouts at the time of the fire. Witnesses who may or may not have seen him there also tell variations of what they saw and when they saw it. This mystery, the second strand of the tale, keeps the reader and the detectives guessing.

Her look at the library itself was quite up to date, including the 2015 Ezra Jack Keats Award winner, The Bear Ate Your Sandwich, in the bin to forward to another branch. She did reach back to the history and sprinkled her account with interesting rules. For instance, when the library opened in 1873, women were not allowed to use the main facilities but a “Ladies Room” with some magazines was soon added. Children not able to use the library at all. What were they thinking?

The staff showed up to work the day after the fire not knowing exactly what work entailed, and soon were joined by volunteers. The strand of her story that details how important all libraries are and how the Los Angeles Public Library became functional with help from corporations and individuals forms the last fascinating strand of her tale.

This book is nonfiction, but feels like a good novel that switches back and forth between characters leaving you wanting more of the one you just left.

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Publish date: 10/16/18

This book is a love letter to anyone who loves libraries and loves to read. It is the story of the Los Angeles Public Library and the fire that devastated the central library in 1986. The loss was incredible, not only of so much of the books and media that was housed there, but also the loss to the community and to all the people who work in the library.

It describes the fire and the search for the arsonist. The journey of this book takes us back in time, to the building of the library and of Los Angeles itself and to the lineage of the various librarians who work there. The interesting part for me was reading about the descriptions and various functions of the library, past and present. The characters in this book are the people who work at the library. Yes, they are an eccentric bunch, but I admire their love of books and how they serve the people in the community. There is also the story of the alleged arsonist. I was most touched by the author’s story of how she came to fall in love with libraries and with reading.

My love of libraries began in first grade. I was six and the elementary school I attended had just been built the year before. The teachers would take us to the school library every day. Though the library was small, it seemed huge to me and I will always have wonderful memories of being there and checking out books and my friends and I reading books together. That school was torn down last year and replaced with a new, modern version. I remember the wave of sadness I felt at a building being gone, a school that housed so many wonderful memories for me, so I can relate to the loss the librarians felt as they watched their beloved library burn and witnessed the loss of many of those precious books.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading and who has fond memories of library visits.

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of this book.

This title was included in a feature post on my blog all about books to read this month. I will submit more and the link directly to the publisher in the next phase of this process.

The Library Book is a wonderful love letter to libraries. It also captured the history of Los Angeles as seen by the Los Angeles Central Library.

It struggled to make its case as a book of true crime. Although I understand how tantalizing the story is of a library fire, I felt like that story was overshadowed by the history of libraries.

Nonetheless, I would recommend this to anyone who breathes a sigh of relief when they walk into a library.

Interesting true account of the Great Los Angeles Public Library Fire and the impact it made on all involved.

Going to the library as the child Was one ofmy favorite thing to do. I was allowed to check out 10 books. They were like getting presents. every week. This book brought back wonderful childhood memories. I always thought I would be a library and when I went to college and had to study the Dewey decimal system I decided to be a teacher instead

As a book nerd and library lover, this was the perfect read for me. It's a history lesson about the library system, a glimpse into today's Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), and a look into the 1986 fire that destroyed hundreds of thousands of books. As a Los Angeleno, it was so interesting to learn about the library I visit on a weekly basis. Also, I'm thinking of pursuing a degree in Library Science so this was a massively interesting and fairly entertaining read for me. Orlean does a good, thorough job of presenting the information and I was pretty engaged throughout the book. My only real criticism is that at some point her jumping between the three different threads becomes a bit jarring and jumbled. It flowed well in the beginning of the book, but about midway through the shifting between threads is not as effortless. Some threads became more interesting than others so it was a bit frustrating moving to a different, not as engaging section. I wish it was interwoven better and more focused. Nonetheless, this was a great read and I would recommend it to fellow book and library lovers.

The Library Book started strong for me but got bogged down in some details. The storyline of Harry Peak was the most interesting piece for me. The details like all of the head librarians and the state of building through the years didn’t particularly grab me. Orleans writing was enjoyable and there were unique historical facts and people mentioned.
I believe librarians and people from LA may enjoy this book. It’s publish date is Oct 16, 2018.

This was a fantastic book. I was an avid library user as a kid and young adult. I took my kids to the library, but in the past few years I have stopped going to the library. This book has changed my mind. I'll admit I was put off by the large population of homeless people in and around the library and the condition of some of the books that I had taken home. This book has made me reevaluate the library.

This story is more than the fire in the LA library, it is basically the history of the LA library and the people who work behind the scenes. This was so interesting to me. I wish I could be a librarian!

"One of the ways I differentiated myself from my parents was that I went wild for owning books.” I too was a youthful library reader, riding through hot Sacramento sunshine to the public library. For anyone who loves libraries and their contents, Susan Orlean’s “The Library Book” is a detail-filled delight. Centered around the Los Angeles Central Library fire of 1986, this book is much more than a true crime whodunit. Orleans researches the history of the Los Angeles Library, and brings up to date the story of the library She introduces us to a cast of librarians who are changing the role of libraries in their communities around the world. This is a fascinating and valuable tale.

Let's start with how much I loved Susan Orlean's writing, I felt like I was listening to her, it was like she was telling me to whole story herself. It just proves how much power words have even on paper, it truly is magical, right?
I love libraries, I have spent my whole entire life inside one library or another. I was born in S. Miguel Azores, this island in the middle of the ocean (which is beautiful by the way) and even there I remember visiting the library and now thinking about it, compared to the libraries here? It was small but to small little me it was magical, it was the place where I could go and where all the books existed and I could borrow them over and over again as many times I wanted. And then I came to US as a teen and OMG, first library I visited was Somerville Library in MA and I remember getting my own library card and I remember spending hours and hours there and let's fast forward to today and I'm married and I still go to my local library and you bet that I bring my kids there lol. So, when I read the sypnosis of this book I had to read it and once I started reading I was fascinating in all aspects.
The more I read the more I wanted to know about the fire that happened at the LA Public Library and what happened to all the books after the fire and what about the people and the reconstruction of it. It was non ending what I wanted to learn and you know what surprised me? It looked like all the questions that I had? Susan had all the answers for it...but she not only had the answers for my questions but she went even deeper than that.
She investigated what happened to the person who was blamed to the fire, even talking to his family. She spent so much time at the library, that we got to know how every single department works and oh man, there are sooo many of them lol.
She goes looks at some other library fires and she even goes as far as burning a book to see how quick a fire inside a library can spread. Fascinating reading for sure. I totally recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars!!!

I don't typically read nonfiction but I can't stay away from everything Susan Orlean writes. She is so lyrical that her nonfiction is like reading poetry. I absolutely loved her latest, which is about the Los Angeles central library. From its origins to a fire that nearly destroyed the entire thing to the present it is as much about the heart of Los Angeles as it about what goes into running a library. So many things that I never thought about! Plus, I loved her exploration into the fire - such a horrible and catastrophic event that never had a real resolution but still feels fresh and devastating even today. You will not be disappointed by reading this beautiful book!

The Library Book comes out next week on October 16, 2018, you can purchase HERE! I definitely recommend this one, even for those of us that don't typically read nonfiction.

Our visits to the library were never long enough for me. The place was so bountiful. I loved wandering around the bookshelves, scanning the spines until something happened to catch my eye. Those visits were dreamy, frictionless interludes that promised I would leave richer than I arrived. It wasn't like going to the store with my mom, which guaranteed a tug-of-war between what I wanted and what my mother was willing to buy me, because I could have anything I anted in the library.

An incredible love letter to libraries and the people who work in them as well as a fast paced account of a little-known event outside of LA and the library world. Susan Orlean is the master of the nonfiction account and this was a joy to read.

One of my favourite memories from when I was younger would be the smell of the library. While we never haunted it as frequently as the author of this book, going there was always a treat and now, I make it a point to visit the library regularly (although this is more for sanity and cost-saving reasons). And so, with a title like this, how could I resist requesting it from NetGalley? I barely needed to read that it was about the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library before I was hooked.

The Library Book has two stories: the first is the history of the Los Angeles Public Library - how it started and how it grew, and the second is, as mentioned before, on the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library.

Obviously, I found this fascinating. Of the two stories, I thought the story of the Los Angeles library to be more interesting. While I've never been to that particular library, I can definitely see the beauty of it and I love how all the people working there are so passionate about the library. The book definitely brings the library to life.

On the other hand, I thought the story about the 1986 fire was a bit of a let down. Perhaps its because I thought this was a solved mystery (the way the book opens definitely implies that Harry Peak is the culpirt) and so the sudden open end was a bit of a shock. Or maybe it's because the book alternates between the history and workings of the library and the 1986 fire, which means that the case never really has time to build up steam. In any case, I found that I would have much preferred to read about about the library with this case being just a small component of it, rather than half the book.

Overall, I thought that this was a beautiful tribute to libraries, and to the Los Angeles Public Library in particular. While I'm not sure if the libraries in Singapore work the same way, I found it very eye-opening to read about how libraries in America work, how they used to work, and how they are changing for the future.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.