This book is advertised as a book about the 1986 LA Public Library fire, but it is so much more than that. It is really an ode to public libraries and the LA Public Library system. Orlean skillfully weaves together facts about the fire and it's reprucussions with the history of the LA Public Library and libraries in general. I am not normally a highlighter, but so many passages got marked while reading this book.
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If you are a lover of libraries, I think you will enjoy this gem of a book.
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"It is as if the city has a bloodstream flowing through it, oxygenated by books."