The Library Book

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It is under these circumstances that Tom and Maggie are destined to meet in an even more awkward moment in the street near the library. This encounter heralds the beginning of a unique friendship that takes the reader on a fragile journey through love and all its guises. Two people - Tom is a lonely teenager. Maggie is in her 70s and lonely as well. What brings them together? A library! Tom discovers the joy of reading, he gains confidence, he starts to apply himself to his studies, he wants to pass high school and go to university. When they threaten to close the library, Maggie, Tom, Farah, Christine and the members of Maggie’s book group start a petition and come up with ideas to save the library. An emotional story about an unlikely friendship, Maggie gives Tom the love and attention he desperately needs and she has a new lease on life. Tom learns valuable life skills from Maggie, and also people do make mistakes and you can’t hold their past against them. This was such an enjoyable read. I adore books that center around libraries and literature, so I was excited to give this one a read. And although the library and its potential closure plays a part in this story, the real gem is the friendship between 16-year-old socially awkward Tom who lost his Mom and is slowly losing his Dad to alcoholism, and Maggie, a lonely 72-year-old widow who lost her son. Watching these two meet and form a friendship was just heartwarming. Throw in a cast of equally endearing side characters. An angry ram named Colin, tons of feels, a sweet ending and you have yourself a book worth recommending!

Starting in the early age of manuscripts, and manually copying books via scribes. How this was pretty much just Monks/Priests and centered around religious text, slowly spread to Academic/Universities (still usually religious) and then more spread to Judicial areas. Early creation of libraries were usually in monasteries/religious institutions, each book CHAINED to a table to avoid theft. Collections grew to personal libraries for Princes/Kings and or powerful nobility/religious leaders and became a status symbol on how big was one's library. While entirely predictable, this had just the right amount of sad bits and happy bits, endearing bonding moments and pointless fall-outs, cute animals and a challenge to meet that you know will have a happy ending. Tom’s initial oblivious self-centredness felt very realistic - he’s a nice boy and I enjoyed the coming of age aspects here as he learns that it’s not all about him. Maggie was a great character, spiky and tough, and the descriptions of her cooking had my mouth watering. 4.5 rounded up because who doesn’t love a book about bookworms! Tom Harris lives with his widowed alcoholic father, and goes red whenever his gorgeous classmate Farah looks at him. One boring Saturday day he finds himself in the library, and discovers a passion for reading. Maggie lives alone on her farm with her sheep, and sees in young Tom the son she lost years before. When the council propose closing their local library, Maggie and Tom will rally together their small English village to help save it. There is a particularly good section that discusses the rise in women readers as well as the popularity of romance novels. Considering how little respect the romance genre and romance readers do seem to get from various histories and commenters on books, it was a nice nod to see two authors highlight the positivity of the genre. The article for the German-speakers here (or if you want to have google translate it for you): https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/bi...

Naturally, the manufacture of books only really got rolling after the invention of the printing press. And education also played a part because until more "mundane" people could read, there just wasn't that big a demand for books. The library is where our two main protagonists will meet and become acquainted. The chapters are told in alternating points of view between Tom and Maggie.

In 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 across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metropolitan charitable initiative to their current status as a cornerstone of national identity; brings each department of the library to vivid life through on-the-ground reporting; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; reflects on her own experiences in libraries; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago. I’m sincerely grateful to Susan Orlean - other authors with similar writing skills - to my long time reader friends —( hearing ‘their’ childhood memorie As of 2019, Orlean is slated to collaborate with James Ponsoldt to write and executive-produce an adaption for television. [7] See also [ edit ] Libraries really are wonderful. They’re better than bookshops, even. I mean bookshops make a profit on selling you books, but libraries just sit there lending you books quietly out of the goodness of their hearts.” )I wanted to end this review with a picture of the state library of Stuttgart (capital of my state) but when I showed it to a friend of mine and asked what he thought of it, he said it reminded him of a mall bookstore. I asked him if the US / Canada actually had bookstores that big and he said "several". Then he told be of the library of Chicago with its 7 stories and GARGOYLES. I feel … very small now and shall refrain from showing the picture. *lol*

The "modern" texts were more accessible than religious or older scientific ones and also translated into many languages (so not everyone had to know Latin or other ancient languages).Because make no mistake, stories have been accompanying humans all our lives and the history and evolution of homo sapiens is therefore accompanied by the history and evolution of stories told and recorded. However, while more and more towns seem to finally modernize their libraries and work hard to make more people want to come, some threats have never truly gone away: This story is less about the library and more about Tom and Maggie’s friendship and their individual struggles. Tom feels anxiety whenever he is at home and tries to avoid his alcoholic father whose addiction is worsening everyday. Since losing her family, Maggie has built a fortress of walls around her and hardly allows anyone to get close to her. The library is a fascinating account the history of libraries and books through the ages. The chapters span from the ancient library of Alexandria to libraries in this day and age. The writing of the library is pretty accessible but it is clearly a scholarly read. The amount of research the authors put in write this book is evident throughout book and manifests itself in an impressive number of references (many of which seem worthy to read on their own). Overall, this was a good reading experience, though it could have worked even better had I not gone in expecting something else. The story is sweet and the main characters are loveable. And that makes up for the other shortcomings to a great extent.