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The Library Book Audiobook
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Susan Orlean’s bestseller, New York Times Notable Book, and Reese’s Book Club Pick is “a sheer delight…as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local library” (USA TODAY)—a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries. “Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book” (The Washington Post).
On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. 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?
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 “delightful…reflection on the past, present, and future of libraries in America” (New York magazine) that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.
In the “exquisitely written, consistently entertaining” (The New York Times) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the library to vivid life; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago.
“A book lover’s dream…an ambitiously researched, elegantly written book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories” (The Minnesota Star Tribune), Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country.
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“Susan Orlean is a wonderful narrator for her terrific new book…Her Midwestern voice is flatish and somewhat nasal. But it’s well modulated and unique, and the narration is well paced. Soon, I relished her sound as much as her words. The audiobook is addicting—full of intriguing, sometimes bizarre factoids, with a beautiful story arc, and lots of humor. Enjoy. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
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“An unexpectedly fascinating paean to libraries.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“A sheer delight…Orlean has created a book as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local library.”
— USA Today -
“Orlean interweaves a memoir of her life in books, a whodunit, a history of Los Angeles, and a meditation on the rise and fall and rise of civic life in the United States…Orlean’s account evokes the rhythms of a life spent in libraries.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“An ambitiously researched, elegantly written book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune
Awards
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An October 2018 LibraryReads Pick
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A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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New York Times bestseller
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A New York Times bestseller in audio
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A BuzzFeed Books Pick of Audiobooks Better Than the Print Version
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About Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 1992. She is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including The Library Book, Rin Tin Tin, and Saturday Night, as well as The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award–winning film Adaptation. She lives with her family and her animals in Los Angeles and may be reached at SusanOrlean.com and on Twitter @SusanOrlean.