December Not Fiction Book Discussions

The Library Book by Susan Orlean is classic Orlean. As with The Orchid Thief and Rin Tin Tin, she starts with a complicated individual, Harry Peak, the young man accused of starting the devastating 1986 fire that destroyed or damaged more than a million books at Los Angeles' Central Library, and ends with a sprawling exploration of a larger topic, libraries and their place in our culture and society. Orlean told Writer's Digest, "When I heard about the fire, I was so fascinated. The two categories of story that I cannot resist are, one, the examination of something that seems very familiar but that I realize I don't really know anything about. And that was definitely present in this story. And secondly, the discovery of a big story or subculture that I never knew existed, and that was true of the fire. So this combined the two genres of story that I find almost irresistible. The so familiar that you don't notice it, and so hidden that it's a discovery."

And as with a The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson, which we read earlier this year, Orlean does not definitively solve the mystery she set out to investigate. In the end, to Orlean, whether Peak started the fire or not is less important than his desire to be remembered, which to her is the essence of why we write, read, and create libraries. In fact, what led Orlean to this story were her memories of visiting the library with her mother when she was a child and her present-day visits to the library with her own son. She told Writer's Digest that her biggest challenge in writing The Library Book was structure: "In this case, I realized I was essentially working on four storylines. And the challenge was, how do I make these live together naturally and happily within a book? I had the history of the library. I had the story of the fire, which was a totally different time period. I had the day-to-day life of the library, which I very much wanted to write about. And I had this more meditative storyline of what do libraries mean, what is their importance, what has been their importance? So how do you put those together?"

What do you think? Is Orlean successful in integrating these four storylines and bringing the seemingly familiar, the public library, to life in a new way? What has your relationship with libraries been throughout your life? What are some of your favorite library memories? As Orlean vividly portrays, libraries are so much more that just warehouses of books. How have libraries changed in your lifetime and in your community? How do you feel about these changes? Andrew Carnegie is the most famous benefactor of libraries, and other benefactors have similarly supported museums or parks or other community spaces. Do you think it is more important to have wealthy benefactors or overall community support? Are libraries indicative of the vitality and mindset of a community or culture? Do they have a role and responsibility in creating this vitality and mindset? In Chapter 30, Orlean discusses a variety of initiatives undertaken by libraries and librarians around the world. Are there any that you would like to see replicated at your public library?

We hope you will join the conversation: Tuesday, December 3, at 6:30 p.m. at Main Library; Thursday, December 19, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library; and here on the blog.

Readalikes: If you enjoyed November's selection . . .

If you enjoyed Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over by Nell Painter, then you might also enjoy these books and films suggested by our discussion group members:

Books

• Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (In That Order) by Bridget Quinn
• If You Can Doodle, You Can Paint: Transforming Simple Drawings Into Works of Art by Diane Culhane

Films

• Art documentaries on Netflix

Book recommended by Nell Painter in an interview with her publisher, Counterpoint

• Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland

November Not Fiction Book Discussions

We continue our theme of education with Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over by Nell Painter. Following her retirement from her career as a historian at Princeton University, Dr. Nell Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school in her sixties to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. An interviewer with her publisher, Counterpoint, asked Painter, “How did you come to write this book? What’s the story of this story?” She replied, “The notion of writing about my experience(s) in art school came very early on, even before I enrolled at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, for my friends voiced curiosity as soon as they discovered my musings. At first it was the novelty of a chaired professor at Princeton climbing down from what seemed like the pinnacle of scholarly achievement—the strangeness of that turning away intrigued people. Then it was asking about what was new. In either case, people I knew wanted me to send back reports from my new life. Old in Art School is that report. Old in Art School speaks a tiny bit about the leaving, but mainly it’s about what the title says: being old in a world obsessed with youth, with what one of my teachers called right-nowness. That’s a challenge when you’re starting out at sixty-four with twentieth-century eyes.” Painter's story asks us to consider how artists, and women artists in particular, are seen and judged by their age, looks, and race. 

What do you think? Have you "started over" or dreamed of "starting over" in your career or general life path? Have you experienced any discouragement, either stated or implied? How did that affect you? What influence did Painter's mother's example have on her own decision to leave her academic career at its pinnacle and start over in art school? Painter titles Chapter 11 "A Bad Decision." Why did Painter decide to leave Mason Gross School of the Arts before completing a full four years there? Why does she think going to graduate school at Rhode Island School of Design before completing her time at Mason and maybe even taking a few years off was a bad decision? Do you think it was a bad decision, or did it perversely have a positive effect on Painter's trajectory as an artist? Of the various "-isms" Painter experienced, which do you think were the most damaging to her confidence in her own vision and execution of her art? How did her own cohort's opinion of her art contrast with that of her art teachers and peers? How did Painter's summer alone with her work in the Adirondacks influence her work and sense of herself as an artist? What is art? Who is an artist? Who gets to decide? 

We hope you will join the discussion: Tuesday, November 5, at 6:30 p.m. at Main Library or Thursday, November 21, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library.