I LOVE books about books. Whether it's the history of books, the reading of the books, a character is a writer - it's all great to me. And the title alone of this one captured me. I have never been happier completing a book.

As someone who didn't know much about the 1986 fire that Susan Orlean writes about in "The Library Book", I found this to be an informative and interesting look into that incident. It's definitely well written and an entertaining read.

Perfection! A wonderful blend of reporting and first-hand descriptions that illuminate the library and what it means to a community. Fascinating account of the fire at the Los Angeles Public Library and all the people involved with the library and fire at the time. A non-fiction masterpiece.

This is a must read for lovers of books and libraries. It also has the added piquancy of having something that should have been major news sidelined by a very different sort of disaster.

Highly recommend.

I’ll be honest– I struggle to read nonfiction. With the best of intentions, I’ll often pick up NF books only to abandon them for a shiny new fiction title as soon as one catches my eye. The ONE exception to this rule is when brilliant NF reads like fiction and totally hooks you in– which The Library Book did for me. I regret that it took me so long to pick this one up– and now I get the hype!

A meticulous look at the history of the Los Angeles Library, Orlean had done an excellent job researching the history of the institution and the fire that devastated it in 1986. While interesting, the book is not for everyone--those with close ties to Los Angeles may be intensely interested.

“We held charred and water soaked
chunks of books in our hands,
history, imagination, knowledge
crumbing in our fingers.
we packed what was left.”

-This book will hurt your bookworm heart. Books being burned in a fire?!?! Ugh. Just perfect non fiction writing that isn't boring, Give it a go. It will make you hug your books tighter. :)

I really wanted to love this book. As a librarian, it is obviously right up my alley. It is meticulously well researched, and I enjoyed learning more about the history of the Los Angeles Library. However, I was not a fan of the way the story would jump around in time from chapter to chapter, it made the book hard to stick with and ultimately it took me an incredibly long time to finish the book. I feel like if the chapters were chronological, it maybe would have been a quicker read and more enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing house for providing a review copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Library Book was chosen as our MomAdvice Book Club selection for November. As someone who is crazy about the library, I thought this would be a great nonfiction pick as it explores the history of the establishment and a mystery surround the 1986 fire in the Los Angeles Public Library.

Didn't know there was a fire there?

Neither did most people! 

Orlean shares the story of a library fire that reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time the fire was extinguished, it had consumed over four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more.

For thirty years, investigators have been baffled by how this fire started and the mysterious reason why it happened.

Orlean is, clearly, a big fan of the library and she weaves in a lot of fun facts and a bigger story about the role that the library plays in our lives. 

There is a wide cast of characters as she shares the stories of people from libraries past and present.

Overall, this should have been a really enthralling read. The fire and how the community rallied together was, definitely, the most fascinating part.

No one can understand the aftermath of what that looked like or, frankly, how it would impact the people who worked there. 

This is one of those cases though where I felt like the author could have benefited from an editor. I listened to this one on audiobook and found myself zoning in and out as Orlean tried to pack in every detail about libraries past.

While well-researched, it was a little dry and I found myself wanting to fast forward to the bits about the the Los Angeles Public Library.

I heard about this book when the author was interviewed via PBS. I immediately found the story so intriguing. Why would someone do something like this. The story that Orlean told was so much bigger than the just the fire though. We got to know about the history of the library. We got know about the staff who have worked at the library, who have the library going for so many years and made it a beloved institution. We also got a look into the mind of the arsonist and tried to understand his intentions. It was riveting in ways and sad in others. As a librarian, it's kind of your own personal nightmare to think this could ever happen to your own library. But it is comforting to see a story like this in a remove. I think Orlean, though not a librarian herself, did a good job relaying the story in a perspective that many, including librarians would appreciate.

Years ago, my husband gave me a copy of The Orchid Thief as a gift. This was back before I ventured much into non-fiction, and one of those gifts that he figured would be great because we could both read it. While we are completely in sync in our love for books, we have our differences when it comes to genres. There are plenty of classics we both love, but generally he is more action/non-fiction, and I am more historical fiction/memoir. In his defense, though, The Orchid Thief had a novel-like plot, and was so much more than a story about orchids. As a birthday present, though, it was a bust. He read it before I did, and even he did not give it rave reviews. I think he described it as “quirky”, which is apparently a negative for him, but usually a plus for me. I read it. Ok, I tried. I wanted to love it, I really did, because honestly, that cover was beautiful!

Fast forward to late last year, and NetGalley offered a new book by Susan Orleans. It had been so long since that last one, and, like childbirth, I’d pretty much forgotten the experience. But the real reason I begged for the book? It’s about Libraries! Ok, it’s about a particular one, the Los Angeles Public Library, and a fire that changes many lives, along with the library system. I don’t know if I’ve just matured and come to appreciate non-fiction more, but Orleans wowed me with this book.

Besides tremendous research and investigative skills, Orleans brings warmth and a generous spirit to the story. She gets to the heart of the systemic problems, uncovers information about the long-standing arson suspect, and brings to life on the page all of the people who help make this library hum. When so many people do the majority of their reading on their phone, this book brings me hope. It is a love letter to all public libraries, and an inspiring acknowledgement of their important place in our communities.


For Goodreads:

Why I picked it — Because what’s better than a library? A story about one!
Reminded me of… The things I liked about The Orchid Thief: It’s a book about one thing, but then it’s so much more. It’s part mystery, part novel, with compelling stories from a large cast of characters.
For my full review — click here

To be perfectly honest, I would have just preferred a tale on the fire in the LA public library from the act, through to the investigation, and its conclusion.

The style of story-telling -in this case the interspersing of other stories with the main story, just did not work or flow. I found it distracting - and rather boring.

Great information, crazy story, frightening to think of being in building burning on one end and ignoring the alarm because of previous faults with the system. So much information packed into a relatively slim volume.

There is truly nothing better than a book that speaks to the almost magical quality of reading. Since I was a little girl, I've always found the library to be such an awe-inspiring place. I can still hardly believe that so many books exist in one place that are completely free! Reading Susan Orlean's non-fiction tome was an utterly heartwarming experience for me. I loved getting reminded of that special library magic where people in a community gather with a quiet respect for gaining knowledge and learning. But Orlean's book isn't just a tribute to this important civic location, it's also a suspenseful, driven account of the devastating Central Library fire in Los Angeles in 1986. Although the tone feels so somber for this part of the story (it breaks my heart to think of all of those damaged and lost books), Orlean writes with such craft that I almost felt like I was reading a thriller as I rushed to find out who was responsible for the fire. She also sprinkles in sections about the history of libraries and the people over the decades who worked to make the library system into what it is today. One would think these details would feel boring or stifling, but I found every line to be fascinating and enjoyable to read about. Any story that can put me back in touch with the enchantment of reading is a win in my book (no pun intended), but Orlean has created a work that mixes important societal issues (like homelessness and poverty) with a universal love of reading that many can relate to. I'm instantly recommending this to every book lover I know.

If I chose one word to describe this book , it would be “multidisciplinary”. The reader learns the science of how a book burns, as well as the science of how to thwart the the growth of mold and save a book. One winds through the history of the LA library and its branches, including the management team and the dedicated staff. The mystery of the fire leads the reader into a character study of the primary suspect who was never charged. The outpouring of community support for the library in the aftermath of the fire was instrumental in saving as much of the collection as possible. It reads like a narrative with several plot points. The author's research was impeccable, and may ultimately help solve the ongoing mystery of who set the fire. This is a long engrossing study and the reader will be richly rewarded.

An eminently readable book that delineates why America's public libraries are great, though it is most likely preaching to the converted. The use of the unsolved 1986 fire at Los Angeles' Central Library as a kind of framing device is really just a Trojan Horse, luring readers in with the promise of mystery and detective work even as the story of the fire (and the arson suspect) ultimately becomes almost incidental to the larger story of the LAPL.

As a professional library person, I really appreciated the attention to library ethos and services, as well as the details on how the library recovered from the fire. But as a professional library person, I also wanted a little extra something new.

A fabulous treatise on the nature of the library and memory. Susan Orlean decided to write this story when her mother began showing the signs of dementia. The idea of those stories lost and regaining those memories was very important to her. She decided to research the Los Angeles Public Library Fire of 1986. Over 300,000 books were destroyed in the fire. Who was behind it and what was the long term impact? The research demonstrated the country's love of libraries and the important role they plan in 1986 and now. She studies the history of the library, interviews librarians, and the Los Angeles Library Director John Szabo. I think of all the non-librarian books out there, Susan Orlean gets it right. She sees the need and the struggles but doesn't fall under the spell of vocational awe. We see libraries and the role they play in society now and into the future.

As a librarian I am biased but I thoroughly enjoyed this book! We have added it to one of our fall ordering lists. More library-based books, please!

This was simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming. Orlean tells the story of library people—how they fight to create spaces for learning and living and how they rise stronger from tragedy. If you ever felt at home in a library, even once, you need to read this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #Netgalley

This was hard to get into. This was one of those books which doesn't know what kind of book it is. To be a book about libraries is to tackle a very broad history. I love libraries. And I like broad histories. But this book bored me. I'm sorry to say that. I didn't finish it. Still hoping to come back to it.