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The Library Book
- Narrated by: Susan Orlean
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
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Publisher's summary
Susan Orlean, hailed as a “national treasure” by The Washington Post and the acclaimed best-selling author of Rin Tin Tin and The Orchid Thief, reopens the unsolved mystery of the most catastrophic library fire in American history and delivers a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution - our libraries.
On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual false alarm. As one fireman recounted later, “Once that first stack got going, it was good-bye, Charlie.” The fire was disastrous: It reached 2,000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than 30 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 with the fascinating history of libraries and the sometimes eccentric characters who run them, award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author Susan Orlean presents a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling story as only she can. With her signature wit, insight, compassion, and talent for deep research, she investigates the legendary Los Angeles Public Library fire to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives.
To truly understand what happens behind the stacks, Orlean visits the different departments of the LAPL, encountering an engaging cast of employees and patrons and experiencing alongside them the victories and struggles they face in today’s climate. She also delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from a metropolitan charitable initiative to a cornerstone of national identity. She reflects on her childhood experiences in libraries; studies fire 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 library more than 30 years ago. Along the way, she reveals how these buildings provide much more than just books - and that they are needed now more than ever.
Filled with heart, passion, and unforgettable characters, The Library Book is classic Susan Orlean and an homage to a beloved institution that remains a vital part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country and culture.
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A century ago, outsiders saw China as a place where nothing ever changes. Today, the country has become one of the most dynamic regions on earth. In Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler explores the human side of China's transformation, viewing modern-day China and its growing links to the Western world through the lives of a handful of ordinary people.
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Great Book, except for the narration.
- By Daniel on 11-09-10
By: Peter Hessler
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The Girls of Atomic City
- The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
- By: Denise Kiernan
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, consuming more electricity than New York City. But to most of the world, the town did not exist. Thousands of civilians - many of them young women from small towns across the South - were recruited to this secret city, enticed by solid wages and the promise of war-ending work. Kept very much in the dark, few would ever guess the true nature of the tasks they performed each day in the hulking factories in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains.
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Important story of this secret city
- By CBlox on 11-14-13
By: Denise Kiernan
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Age of Ambition
- Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
- By: Evan Osnos
- Narrated by: Evan Osnos, George Backman
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party’s struggle to retain control.
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Come back when you have a warrant!
- By Neuron on 11-06-15
By: Evan Osnos
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Fire in the Belly
- The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz
- By: Cynthia Carr
- Narrated by: Cynthia Barrett
- Length: 25 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
David Wojnarowicz was an abused child, a teen runaway who barely finished high school, but he emerged as one of the most important voices of his generation. His circle of East Village artists moved into the national spotlight just as the AIDS plague began its devastating advance, and as right-wing culture warriors reared their heads. Fire in the Belly is the untold story of a polarizing figure at a pivotal moment in American culture - and one of the most highly acclaimed biographies of the year.
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Why did they let this person read?
- By Wendell Ricketts on 12-11-18
By: Cynthia Carr
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American Fire
- Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land
- By: Monica Hesse
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Shocked by a five-month arson spree that left rural Virginia reeling, Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse drove down to Accomack County to cover the trial of Charlie Smith, who pled guilty to 67 counts of arson. But Charlie wasn't lighting fires alone: he had an accomplice - his girlfriend, Tonya Bundick. Through her depiction of the dangerous shift that happened in their passionate relationship, Hesse brilliantly brings to life the once-thriving coastal community and its distressed inhabitants.
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Narration is horrible
- By Bryan Campbell on 08-17-17
By: Monica Hesse
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Bad City
- Peril and Power in the City of Angels
- By: Paul Pringle
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On a cool, overcast afternoon in April 2016, a salacious tip arrived at the L.A. Times that reporter Paul Pringle thought should have taken, at most, a few weeks to check out: a drug overdose at a fancy hotel involving one of the University of Southern California’s shiniest stars—Dr. Carmen Puliafito, the head of the prestigious medical school. Pringle, who’d long done battle with USC and its almost impenetrable culture of silence, knew reporting the story wouldn’t be a walk in the park. USC is the largest private employer in the city of L.A., and it casts a long shadow.
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Wow.
- By Anna on 07-22-22
By: Paul Pringle
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The Gardner Heist
- The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
- By: Ulrich Boser
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves.
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Loved it!
- By Amanda D. on 05-21-19
By: Ulrich Boser
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Shortest Way Home
- One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future
- By: Pete Buttigieg
- Narrated by: Pete Buttigieg
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Once described by The Washington Post as "the most interesting mayor you've never heard of", Pete Buttigieg, the 36-year-old Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has improbably emerged as one of the nation's most visionary politicians. First elected in 2011, Buttigieg left a successful business career to move back to his hometown, previously tagged by Newsweek as a "dying city", and transformed it into a shining model of urban reinvention.
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Reveals a Person Wise & Experienced & Literate
- By dbbks3 on 03-17-19
By: Pete Buttigieg
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Inside Scientology
- The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion
- By: Janet Reitman
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest-growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of government to further its goals.
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My cup of tea.
- By MWMcCabe on 08-09-11
By: Janet Reitman
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If the Devil Had a Wife
- By: Frank Mills
- Narrated by: A.T. Chandler
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Once upon a time. Happily ever after. Such are the classic promises of fairy tales. Yet in Texas we find a twist to the familiar storyline. In If the Devil Had a Wife, there is still the battle of Good vs. Evil, a beautiful maiden, a wealthy suitor, a kingdom of riches and the wicked witch, but any similarity with Cinderella and Snow White ends there. With the help of her life partner and an attorney (always necessary in these modern times), Nelda Stark executes a devious plan that elevates fraud and theft to a new high.
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What a Tale!!
- By Texas Native on 09-28-16
By: Frank Mills
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Dreamers and Deceivers
- True and Untold Stories of the Heroes and Villains Who Made America
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Jeremy Lowell
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The new nonfiction from number-one best-selling author and popular radio and television host Glenn Beck.
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Astounding History stories gather life
- By Gil on 11-13-14
By: Glenn Beck
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Provenance
- How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art
- By: Laney Salisbury, Aly Sujo
- Narrated by: Marty Peterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Here is a tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries - many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today. Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history.
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reads like a thriller
- By Andy on 04-26-10
By: Laney Salisbury, and others
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Stories of people thinking and acting horribly towards each other
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The Chicken Sisters
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In Merinac, Kansas, Chicken Mimi's and Chicken Frannie's have spent a century vying to serve up the best fried chicken in the state - and the legendary feud between their respective owners, the Moores and the Pogociellos, has lasted just as long. No one feels the impact more than 35-year-old widow Amanda Moore, who grew up working for her mom at Mimi's before scandalously marrying Frank Pogociello and changing sides to work at Frannie's. Tired of being caught in the middle, Amanda sends an SOS to Food Wars, the reality TV restaurant competition.
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Headache
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Margot Lee's mother is ignoring her calls. Margot can’t understand why, until she makes a surprise trip home to Koreatown, LA, and finds that her mother has suspiciously died. Determined to discover the truth, Margot unravels her single mother’s past as a Korean War orphan and an undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her mother, Mina.
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Audio Recording Terrible, distracting
- By Amazon Customer on 09-02-20
What listeners say about The Library Book
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Meg
- 01-17-19
Had To Turn It Off
I was so intrigued by the premise of this book. However, I simply could not listen to the narration. I see that some have listened to the book on 1.5x speed - maybe that would help, but I'm not convinced. While I applaud the author for giving it a go, next time she should outsource.
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156 people found this helpful
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- Cliente de Kindle
- 01-05-19
I couldn’t take the narration!
I usually get all of the Reese Witherspoon’s book picks on Audible, but this one was unlistenable. The narrator is horrible and I could not focus on the story. I will have to pick up an actual copy of the book and read it myself. So I can’t say whether the book was good or not, I can only comment on the narrator.
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142 people found this helpful
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- Jessica
- 01-17-19
Needs a new narrator
I can’t really comment on the writing because I cannot even get through the first chapter. The reading is very slow and boring. I sped it up, but I still could not focus on the story. Will be returning.
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92 people found this helpful
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- David McKenzie
- 02-13-19
Stick to the physical book
This was an audiobook I was excited about, but unfortunately there was some penny pinching involved I assume and the author performed the Audiobook reading. There is no trace of voice acting or podcast experience. What occurred was a bland, remote, monotone performance that literally almost killed me a few times while on the road late at night. The author's dull, vibrating, ASMR-inspired sleepytime tea voice nearly caused several road accidents when attempting to learn about libraries. Avoid the audiobook. Buy the physical copy. It's still a great amount of interesting information. Just don't want anyone to die.
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64 people found this helpful
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- Marvel Gee
- 01-08-19
Admirable effort
I love libraries. I've written about libraries and I know it can be a challenge to write, so I admire Susan Orlean's effort. But I found it myself tapping my foot in irritation. Too many numbers, not enough story. And I'm sorry to say her reader's voice was just as grating. The book did, however, remind me of the days when public buildings were magnificent.
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61 people found this helpful
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- Leslie C. Whitaker
- 01-16-19
Wanted to like it....
As a librarian, I wanted very much to like this story but it was so slow and lacked any action that I was unable to stay interested. The performance lacked any inflection and made me wonder if she begged them to let her read her own book. I just could not force myself to listen to it anymore.
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55 people found this helpful
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- Tanya D
- 01-13-19
Do Not Recommend! Will be returning!
You know, I very rarely will give out a one star. Probably because I usually have enough sense to just put a big fat DNF on it, and not torture myself. Why I didn't with this one, I don't know. I fully expected to like it based on the reviews and the subject matter. I love books. I love libraries. I love history. I hated this book.
This book was SO painful. I want to cry.
-Disorganized, boring, dry
- Narration is slow, dull, and agonizing
The markings of a good non-fiction book is when you can keep me engaged. The minute I start thinking... "hmm the facts are somewhat interesting, but I could put all the interesting facts into a few pages in a magazine and be done with it", you've lost me; and this is what happened here. It is clear that a lot of research went into this book, but the way the ideas were presented had zero flow to them; and seemed to be facts, quotes, etc with little author exploration into the ideas presented.
In summary, if anyone wants to re-enact the chapter where the author burns a book, I suggest you burn this one.
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29 people found this helpful
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- G Goodwin
- 12-10-18
Love Letter to Libraries
Such a worthwhile read.
Good storyteller
Quirky and interesting characters
Uplifting and hopeful
Highly recommend
I listened at 1.25 speed and that was just right.
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27 people found this helpful
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- Bert
- 01-07-19
New narrator needed
Ms Orlean wrote an interesting book but should have chosen someone else to read it.
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26 people found this helpful
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- Mj
- 01-15-19
Please hire a reader next time
As others have said: her reader's voice was just flat and bad. It may be one if the top narrator fails on audible. I couldn’t listen to this story. Buy the print version if your dead set on reading this book
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24 people found this helpful