Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. She is the author of seven books, including Rin Tin Tin, Saturday Night and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award-winning film Adaptation. She lives with her family and her animals in Los Angeles and may be reached at SusanOrlean.com and Twitter.com/SusanOrlean.
Exquisitely written, consistently entertaining
*New York Times*
Moving . . . A constant pleasure to read . . . Everybody who loves
books should check out The Library Book
*Washington Post*
A loving and diligent portrait of a particular place and its
history
*Financial Times*
Enthralling and inspirational... Above all, this excellent book is
an unashamed love letter to the public library system... In this
fine and heartfelt saga, [Orlean] repays a lifelong debt with both
passion and elegance.
*Alexander Larman, Observer*
An exemplary work of creative non-fiction... I can't recommend this
book highly enough. It manages to be deft and serious at the same
time, elegiac and optimistic, scrupulous and free-wheeling... just
buy it.
*Scotland on Sunday*
Vivid . . . Compelling . . . Intimate and epic
*Wall Street Journal*
Mesmerizing . . . A riveting mix of true crime, history, biography,
and immersion journalism. . . . Probing, prismatic, witty,
dramatic, and deeply appreciative, Orlean's chronicle celebrates
libraries as sanctuaries, community centers, and open universities
run by people of commitment, compassion, creativity, and
resilience.
*Booklist (starred review)*
Of course, I will always read anything that Susan Orlean writes -
and I would encourage you to do the same, regardless of the topic,
because she's always brilliant. But The Library Book is a
particularly beautiful and soul-expanding book... It will keep you
spellbound from first page to last.
*Elizabeth Gilbert*
Engaging . . . Bibliophiles will love this fact-filled, bookish
journey.
*Kirkus Reviews*
This is a book only Susan Orlean could have written. Somehow she
manages to transform the story of a library fire into the story of
literacy, civil service, municipal infighting and vision, public
spaces in an era of increasing privatization and social
isolation... and the central role libraries have always and will
always play in the life and health of a bustling democracy. Beyond
all that, like any good library, it's bursting with incredible
tales and characters. There could be no better book for the
bookish.
*Dave Eggers*
Susan Orlean has long been one of our finest storytellers, and she
proves it again with The Library Book. A beautifully written and
richly reported account, it sheds new light on a thirty-year-old
mystery - and, what's more, offers a moving tribute to the
invaluableness of libraries.
*David Grann*
After reading Susan Orlean's The Library Book, I'm quite sure I'll
never look at libraries, or librarians, the same way again. This is
classic Orlean - an exploration of a devastating fire becomes a
journey through a world of infinite richness, populated with
unexpected characters doing unexpected things, with unexpected
passion.
*Erik Larson*
Orlean has a knack for finding compelling stories in unlikely
places.
*Kathryn Hughes, Guardian*
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