The Library Book, by Susan Orlean

In 1986, the Los Angeles Central Public Library caught fire. The fire grew and raged for over seven hours, ultimately destroying four hundred thousand books and damaging hundreds of thousands more. The Library Book tells the story of the fire, the attempt to find the cause of the fire, and the investigation of the man believed to have been the arsonist. Amidst this central story, Orlean weaves in the history of the Los Angeles library system, a history of libraries in general, the future of libraries, and a multitude of fascinating characters and facts.

I was captivated by this book. From the first page, I was utterly hooked — and that’s a rare feat for non-fiction. Granted, I am a huge library nerd (one of my favorite things about studying at Yale Law School was the fact that the library was open 24 hours a day), and a huge book nerd, so this book was right up my alley. I feel like I learned so much, and at the same time, it was a great reminder of just how important libraries always have been and continue to be in our communities.

I’m happy to also point out that I checked this book out from the library! I try to use the library as much as I can, and when I do buy books, at the end of the year I donate the majority of them to the local library to sell for fundraising. (It’s hard for me to let go of any books, but I can’t keep them all, or we’d be in a serious hoarding situation around here.)

This is one of my favorite books so far this year. Highly recommend!