The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Last summer, Linda Holmes recommended the book The Library Book by Susan Orlean on an episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour. It's sort of been hanging out in my TBR list, but I really needed a non-fiction book for May (I'm trying to read at least one non-fiction book a month, but haven't been 100% successful), so I placed a hold on it at the library and it came in quite quickly.

This book is sprawling. It starts with a giant fire at the central branch of the Los Angeles library on April 29, 1986. It turned into the biggest library fire in the history of the United States, but if you're anything like me, you had never heard of this fire. (I was also seven when this took place, so maybe I could be forgiven for not following the news as well as I might have.) So the book starts as a whodunit and delves into some of the troubles of arson investigation and how hard it is to prove anything when all of your evidence literally goes up in flames, but it becomes a larger story of the history of the Los Angeles library, the role of public libraries today, and the challenges libraries are facing in society today.

There's so much interesting material in this book. Every chapter covers a different topic and begins with four citations of library books that give a clue to what will happen in the chapter. Maybe it's a book that's mentioned in the chapter, about a topic that's discussed, or it's a sly reference to someone.  I found it to be a fun game to use the citations to help me guess about the chapter content and it turned the book into a treasure hunt.

The parts I liked best were the parts about the inner workings of such a large operation. I liked the behind the scenes of map room, the room where they sort books that get shipped from one branch to another, the library's security, and how administrators manage all those librarians. The process nerd in me really geeked out about what happens in the bowels of the library where the public can't go. Hearing about what public libraries are doing to combat some of the social issues, offering programs and safe spaces, was super interesting and made me even more of a library fan than I already was.  I thought the ongoing "did Harry Peaks really start the fire" storyline brought an element of true crime interest to the book that I appreciated. I though Orlean's conversational tone throughout made what could have been an incredibly dense piece of writing easy and breezy.

There were some chapters that were a bit snoozy, particularly the section on all the heads of the LA libraries. That was a little too in-depth a look for someone like me, but even in those sections, Orlean was clear in her purpose, which was generally to talk about scandal and the impact of the feminization of the career field of librarian. I would also like it if there was an update chapter on the role of libraries during the pandemic, but I guess that's actually asking a lot of additional reporting and maybe isn't completely necessary, but it would be a nice way to round out the book.

Anyway, if you're a library fan and this sounds intriguing to you, I think it's worth it to seek this book out. 4.5/5 stars