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hannahpings's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
moved me to tears. i love libraries, and i love librarians, and i think los angeles is so special
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Dementia and Death of parent
hanz's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Think I'd class this more as history or even social issues as opposed to true crime. The book jumps around a lot between the fire and its investigation, the history of the LA library and the current people and services of that library.
The history parts were my favourite and there were a lot of interesting facts about the people involved in the early stages of the library.
Occasionally hard to follow because it jumped around a lot and I found that some of the chapters ended quite abruptly and didn't really have a conclusion to add to the overall point of the book, however I'm relatively new to non fiction so could just be me.
The author also repeated used either he or she to refer to an arbitrary person, which was a little jarring and felt out of place with some of the themes of the book.
The history parts were my favourite and there were a lot of interesting facts about the people involved in the early stages of the library.
Occasionally hard to follow because it jumped around a lot and I found that some of the chapters ended quite abruptly and didn't really have a conclusion to add to the overall point of the book, however I'm relatively new to non fiction so could just be me.
The author also repeated used either he or she to refer to an arbitrary person, which was a little jarring and felt out of place with some of the themes of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Antisemitism
Minor: Homophobia and Racism
linesiunderline's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
A love letter to libraries past and present, and a catalogue of all that they offer to patrons, then and now, this book is fascinating and teaches readers a great deal along the way. Orlean’s writing is clear and compelling, and I mostly enjoyed the meandering structure, though it wasn’t what I had initially anticipated. Certain players in the library’s history were more interesting than others, and overall I’d have liked even more attention payed to Harry Peak’s part in it all. You’ll put this one down and be more awestruck than before at the miracle and necessity of libraries.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
katschm's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Chronic illness, Death, and Drug use