Take a photo of a barcode or cover
archimo 's review for:
The Library Book
by Susan Orlean
3.5, rounded up
An enjoyable book. Susan Orlean obviously loves libraries, and seems to have spent many years researching this book. While the overarching theme is supposed to be about the LA central library fire, and a ‘whodunnit,’ the mystery or suspense that may be intended is not there. Instead (and luckily) it’s a beautiful chronicle of libraries and the history of libraries, interwoven with a bit of LA history and Orlean’s own relationship with the library. Left me loving my Austin Public library and librarians even more.
P89 “Hacking into a library’s website seems pointless, since you can access it legitimately anytime, so I asked Mattson why anyone would bother. “They’re practicing,” he said. As he explained it, people hack into the library to rehearse hacking into bigger, more secure, and more valuable targets.”
P93 [re: being forgotten, persistence of memory, ways to be remembered ]
P145 [“Bibliosmiles” group aka “Librarians Who Are Nevertheless Human” w/ slogan “Cheer up, American Library Association!” And Lummis’s nickname “Grim Reality” ]
P196 [excerpt from radio show /Americans at Work/ in the ‘30s ]....”a librarian’s got to be a right smart girl nowadays.”
P198 Director Warren in speech to a library association “librarians should “read as a drunkard drinks or as a bird sings or a cat sleeps or a dog responds to an invitation to go walking, not from conscience or training, but because they’d rather do it than anything else in the world.””
An enjoyable book. Susan Orlean obviously loves libraries, and seems to have spent many years researching this book. While the overarching theme is supposed to be about the LA central library fire, and a ‘whodunnit,’ the mystery or suspense that may be intended is not there. Instead (and luckily) it’s a beautiful chronicle of libraries and the history of libraries, interwoven with a bit of LA history and Orlean’s own relationship with the library. Left me loving my Austin Public library and librarians even more.
P89 “Hacking into a library’s website seems pointless, since you can access it legitimately anytime, so I asked Mattson why anyone would bother. “They’re practicing,” he said. As he explained it, people hack into the library to rehearse hacking into bigger, more secure, and more valuable targets.”
P93 [re: being forgotten, persistence of memory, ways to be remembered ]
P145 [“Bibliosmiles” group aka “Librarians Who Are Nevertheless Human” w/ slogan “Cheer up, American Library Association!” And Lummis’s nickname “Grim Reality” ]
P196 [excerpt from radio show /Americans at Work/ in the ‘30s ]....”a librarian’s got to be a right smart girl nowadays.”
P198 Director Warren in speech to a library association “librarians should “read as a drunkard drinks or as a bird sings or a cat sleeps or a dog responds to an invitation to go walking, not from conscience or training, but because they’d rather do it than anything else in the world.””