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949_peewee 's review for:
The Library Book
by Susan Orlean
I liked the opening of each chapter with cataloged book titles, as well as the way the author interwove her own library stories and her research into the story of the LA Central Library fire. The book covers a lot of ground--general library history, and history and characters involved through the years with LA Central Library; interviews with firemen, librarians, family members, investigators.
p58 on burning books--"The pages burned so fast they barely crackled, the sound was soft, like a sizzle, or like the crinkly light sound of water spraying out of a shower."
p59 "Libraries may embody our notion of permanence, but their patrons are always in flux."
p93 "In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library has burned...Our minds and souls contain volumes inscribed by our experiences and emotions; each individual's consciousness is a collection of memories we've cataloged and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived. It is something that no one else can entirely share, one that burns down and disappears when we die. But if you can take something from that internal collection and share it--with one person or with the larger world, on the page or in a story recited--it takes on a life of its own."
p103 references to Ray Bradbury, and his alternative to college: 13 years in LA Public Library.
p124 reference to Native American slavery allowed in California by law
p125 Mary Foy hired to be city librarian, first female head librarian in country.
p127 Tessa Kelso, head librarian, began a library school
p130 Mary Letitia Jones, first head librarian to have graduated from a library school; shockingly told to resign to give way to Charles Lummis. Protests in LA against this (ultimately failed) by Susan B. Anthony and Rev. Anna H. Shaw.
p180 Library design by NY architect Bertram Goodhue
p197 Althea Warren hired as deputy director. Soon after taking job in LA, she fell in love wit head of Children's Dept, Gladys English. Moved in together in 1931 and remained with each other til English's death in 1956. p199 She was a 'reading evangelizer' looking for ways to get books into hands of public. Felt age requirement for children too restrictive, so opened membership to any child who could sign his/her name.
p215 descriptions of segregated LA
The life of Harry Peak and interviews with people who knew him, interviewed/interrogated him, and with his family is described throughout the book. And in the end, the author reveals that his part (or no part) in the fire will never be known.
p58 on burning books--"The pages burned so fast they barely crackled, the sound was soft, like a sizzle, or like the crinkly light sound of water spraying out of a shower."
p59 "Libraries may embody our notion of permanence, but their patrons are always in flux."
p93 "In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library has burned...Our minds and souls contain volumes inscribed by our experiences and emotions; each individual's consciousness is a collection of memories we've cataloged and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived. It is something that no one else can entirely share, one that burns down and disappears when we die. But if you can take something from that internal collection and share it--with one person or with the larger world, on the page or in a story recited--it takes on a life of its own."
p103 references to Ray Bradbury, and his alternative to college: 13 years in LA Public Library.
p124 reference to Native American slavery allowed in California by law
p125 Mary Foy hired to be city librarian, first female head librarian in country.
p127 Tessa Kelso, head librarian, began a library school
p130 Mary Letitia Jones, first head librarian to have graduated from a library school; shockingly told to resign to give way to Charles Lummis. Protests in LA against this (ultimately failed) by Susan B. Anthony and Rev. Anna H. Shaw.
p180 Library design by NY architect Bertram Goodhue
p197 Althea Warren hired as deputy director. Soon after taking job in LA, she fell in love wit head of Children's Dept, Gladys English. Moved in together in 1931 and remained with each other til English's death in 1956. p199 She was a 'reading evangelizer' looking for ways to get books into hands of public. Felt age requirement for children too restrictive, so opened membership to any child who could sign his/her name.
p215 descriptions of segregated LA
The life of Harry Peak and interviews with people who knew him, interviewed/interrogated him, and with his family is described throughout the book. And in the end, the author reveals that his part (or no part) in the fire will never be known.