The Library Book

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MY THOUGHTS: I needed this! If you want a book that is going to make you smile and your heart swell, this is it!

As of 2019, Orlean is slated to collaborate with James Ponsoldt to write and executive-produce an adaption for television. [7] See also [ edit ] Throughout the story, there are plenty of references to novels – and I cheered when I had read so many of these that Osborne includes. (My ‘To Be Read’ pile can sigh with relief!) The characters that centre around the library are entertaining and I found Christine’s solution of making a poster for every crisis to be especially funny. The library becomes synonymous to the community and is a stark reflection of the reality of our own community libraries. I did wonder how the fate of the library would be decided and could not foresee how Osborne would resolve this, especially as it appeared inevitable that the actions of the community cannot prevent its closure. However, if I am honest, I became more invested in Tom and Maggie’s stories, forgetting a little bit about the library and what would happen. I think this is because I loved their characters so much. I began my career working on aspects of the European Reformation. My first book was a study of religious refugee communities in the sixteenth century, and since then I have published on the Dutch Revolt, and on the Reformation in Germany, France and England, as well as a general survey history of the sixteenth century. In the last years the focus of my research has shifted towards an interest in the history of communication, and especially the history of the book. I run a research group that in 2011 completed a survey of all books published before1601: the Universal Short Title Catalogue. This work continues with work to incorporate new discoveries and continue the survey into the seventeenth century. The Library is a novel by British author, Bella Osborne. Compton Mallow’s village library is many things to many people: for seventy-two-year-old Maggie, it represents a break from Providence Farm, some social interaction with her book club and a chance to read the papers; for sixteen-year-old Thomas Harris, it’s quiet place to study and revise for his GCSEs, and a source of the romance novels he hopes will teach him how to attract a certain girl. They each set out to prove that the library isn't just about books – it's the heart of their community.

Maggie is in her 70s, and lives alone on a smallholding with just her animals for company. The highlight of her life is the weekly book club at the library. She is an extraordinary character with hidden depths and a tragic secret. 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. But of course libraries have only been this wonderful thing for a very short period of time. The idea of all the riffraff of my kind being allowed all that access to books — well, that idea would be very alien to the “connoisseurs” throughout history. Libraries weren’t for the idle pleasure or even the sharing of common knowledge; they were meant for the privileged few. In this book the authors trace the library history and the evolution of library from scholastic monastery collections to university collections and private hoards of book wealth to subscription libraries to wonderful public libraries as we know them. The educated and affluent part of our community takes it for granted that public funding of the arts and the facilitation of recreational reading is part of the core functions of government. But the public library – in the sense of a funded collection available free to anyone who wants to use it – has only existed since the mid nineteenth century, a mere fraction of the history of the library as a whole. If there is one lesson from the centuries-long story of the library, it is that libraries only last as long as people find them useful.” A bibliophiles dream bound in a single edition! And while undoubtedly scholarly and historical this is the sort of book that can also be perused in small doses by any lover of books and libraries, whether they are regularly in pursuit of knowledge or entertaining escapism in their choice of reading material. **Thank you so much to both NegGalley and Basic Books/Hachette for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! I loved it so much I bought a hardcover copy the day it came out.**

Meanwhile, Maggie calls on Tom’s assistance more often, glad that he is both willing and interested in farm work, and she’s happy to have someone else to cook for. They open up more to one another, and Maggie has sound advice about study and further education. On the farm, Tom finds himself involved in tasks he could never have anticipated, and enthralled by newborn animals. What is so delightful about Tom and Maggie is the way they not only bring out the best in each other but support each other through difficult times. Tom needs someone to care and nurture him and help him deal with his Dad while Maggie needs company and the joy of having a boy around, experiencing the delights of a farm for the first time. It was also lovely to see Tom open himself to learning new things, like yoga and discovering the joy of reading, to the point of becoming confident in talking about books with Maggie and others.

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contrarian idea that people don’t associate libraries with L.A., which made it kind of delectable. That said, the 1986 fire ( forgive me), was a spark! The Library is a novel by British author, Bella Osborne. The audio version is narrated by Julia Franklin and Harry Lister Smith. Compton Mallow’s village library is many things to many people: for seventy-two-year-old Maggie, it represents a break from Providence Farm, some social interaction with her book club and a chance to read the papers; for sixteen-year-old Thomas Harris, it’s quiet place to study and revise for his GCSEs, and a source of the romance novels he hopes will teach him how to attract a certain girl. If you love reading, books, libraries and a story based around all these things then this book is for you This was such an amazing and thorough recounting of the make up and scope of libraries from ancient times until now. I was impressed with the amount of detail and research that went into this and the writing was far from dry as it wove through time and scope. Point is.....I didn’t come close to having the experience that Susan Orlean had - with books and reading- as she did. I don’t have ‘mom & me’ reading memories to draw on and my dad died when I was 4.

The story starts like this. ’My name is Tom Harris and I am invisible.’ At least that’s the way he feels and, in a way, it suits him as he hates being noticed. Since his mother died when he was 8, it has just been him and his father. They have a strained ralitipnship. His father never seems to listen to him or take notice of him. Tom spends much of his time alone. Then Tom discovers the library and remembers happy times he spent there with his mum. 72 year old Maggie lives alone since her husband died ten years earlier. Her solace is books and the library is her safe haven. Tom and Maggie encounter each other in bizarre circumstances and a tentative friendship is formed. Tom learns there is far more to Maggie than he first thought. This is a very enjoyable and heartwarming story about a sixteen year old boy and a seventy two year old woman who meet at the local library and accidentally become friends. 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. Into the new age of how the running of libraries changed with more and more library managers being female and how that changed the perspective/curating of books and subjects with a more wide-ranging perspectives. Discussed traveling libraries, bookmobile, etc especially in Texas (I remember this when i was a kid). How in the mid-1900s funding has been a challenge, dwindling use. The expanding of book topics to secular / disapproved books..... much discussion/disagreement of what was appropriate and not in a public library, slowly becoming more and more secular. Also the focus shift on more and more young people.

When Tom phones Maggie in a panic one night, she does not hesitate to come to his aid, and their relationship enters a new phase. But Maggie has not been entirely honest about her past, a past that Tom’s continued presence has her reaching out for, with unfortunate consequences. This is a contemporary fiction by English author Bella Osborne, featuring 16 year-old Tom Harris who seeks refuge from the difficulties of his life in the Compton Mallow Library where he meets the quirky 72 year-old Maggie Mann. Tom is struggling to get through his GCSE exams and avoid a looming future working in the dog food factory. His grieving alcoholic father seems not to see his distress or to understand his dreams. Gradually Maggie and Tom become friends, enriching both of their lives. Along with his high-school crush, Farah Shah, Tom and Maggie band together to rescue the library from imminent closure.