Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling book that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library-and if so, who? By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more.

As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. “CAPTIVATING…DELIGHTFUL.” - Christian Science Monitor * “EXQUISITELY WRITTEN, CONSISTENTLY ENTERTAINING.” - The New York Times * “MESMERIZING…RIVETING.” - Booklist (starred review)Ī dazzling love letter to a beloved institution-and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries-from the bestselling author hailed as a “national treasure” by The Washington Post. “A constant pleasure to read…Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book.” - The Washington Post A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICKĪ WASHINGTON POST TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEAR * A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018

The library book by orlean