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.