The Library Book

The backdrop of the story was the Los Angeles library fire in April of 1986. The investigation of the cause of the fire threaded with the history of libraries in the United States makes up the narrative. The book which I read as an audiobook was read by the author herself. The possibility of arson in the library and the tale of the most likely person to be the arsonist definitely made it an interesting read. The book brought home the fact that libraries may be the reservoir of all kinds of information but, in the end, are run and maintained by people. There is politics and intrigue wherever there are social interactions and are the most alive of places. The story was fascinating for me but I really felt that the narration could have been livelier. It had the potential to engage me more with its in-depth research into the history of the libraries in the country. Maybe if I had actually read it as a book, I would have appreciated it better.