cynthiabrakeman 's review for:

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

5.0

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Powerful! You think you have to love books to want to read a book about a library, but this was so much more than about books and libraries, the LA Library to be specific, that you realize you just have to love learning. Susan Orlean painted not only a picture of the LA Library during it's most difficult times, but how the idea of a library continues to evolve and change with the times, and yet the one common thread is the desire for information, for community, and for the written word. Orlean's earliest memories of her library experience mimicked mine as my mother would bring me to the library every other week and we would check out stacks of books to read before returning them and checking our more. I use the library so much less now, and feel this renewed need to bring my grandchildren there because of reading this. "All the things that are wrong in the world seem conquered by a library's simple unspoken promise: Here I am, please tell me your story; here is my story, please listen."