6 Boston Public Library reading room The Knowledge Then, in an instant, people poured in - the hoverers, who bolted from their posts in the garden, and the wall-sitters, and the morning fumblers, and the school groups, and the businesspeople, and the parents with strollers heading to story time, and the students, and the homeless, who rushed straight to the bathrooms and then made a beeline to the computer center, and the scholars, and the time-wasters, and the readers, and the curious, and the bored. As I look for more remote job opportunities, the library is a great place to settle in and get some work done, if only I don’t get distracted! It serves a range of purposes for what patrons are hoping for in their experience. I am envious of those who have libraries in their neighborhood with easy access daily! I feel that encourages a healthy relationship with the library and the staff. We find ESL courses, genre-based book clubs, after school programs, financial workshops, and much more. The library is a place for community and engaging programs that serve multiple populations. I love that it is open to all regardless of your status in life. You can find an array of characters when it comes to the public library. But if you can take something from that internal collection and share it - with one person or with the larger world, on the page or in a story recited - it takes on a life of its own.” Orlean, Susan: The Library Book, pg. It is something that no one else can entirely share, one that burns down and disappears when we die. “In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library is burned… Our minds and souls contain volumes inscribed by our experiences and emotions each individual’s consciousness is a collection of memories we’ve cataloged and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived. What I assumed was a mystery turned into a love letter to public libraries. The subject of a library fire that then branches into the library system and the value is astonishing and well-written. Orlean’s storytelling is indicative of ethnography and investigative journalism that I hadn’t thought of. The Library Book has instilled a new love of both libraries AND non-fiction in me.

There is not an expected path or outcome because it is real life.

The stories are not so clean or wrapped up. Not that that is a bad thing or there are stories that break that mold but with non-fiction, we get the unexpected. One of our latest conversations was about the predictability of a lot of fiction novels ⁠- the formula and expectation that good wins out in the end. Every Friday, my co-worker and I walk to get coffee and catch up. The last few months, I have been leaning more into non-fiction books. I have seen a lot of hype for The Library Book by Susan Orlean.

Book the library book by susan orlean