In a journalistic and readable style (very accessible on audiobook), Orlean covers a lot of ground in The Library Book. In the hands of a lesser writeIn a journalistic and readable style (very accessible on audiobook), Orlean covers a lot of ground in The Library Book. In the hands of a lesser writers, the details - stories about library patrons, recollections of her own upbringing, the story of a man accused of setting fire to the central branch of LA Library, information about libraries burned throughout history - would have felt disconnected and trivial. She makes it her own and includes a lot of her own options, which journalists do. I don't agree with her on everything, but I came away from the story with mainly positive feelings. Included in the book are:
Eyewitness accounts of the 1986 fire that destroyed the central branch of the LA Public Library
A questioning of police handling of arson generally
Reasons people burn books and libraries
Library history and history of the librarians who have run LA's library system (including the women who protested for the right to become librarians
How libraries are serving the unhoused populations worldwide...more
"When, after passing Chagres, an old-world, tumble-down town, for about seven miles, the steamer reache*Update 5/23/24 Finally, an illustrative quote!
"When, after passing Chagres, an old-world, tumble-down town, for about seven miles, the steamer reached Navy Bay, I thought I had never seen a more luckless, dreary spot. Three sides of the place were a mere swamp, and the town itself stood upon a sand-reef, the houses being built upon piles, which some one told me rotted regularly every three years. The railway, which now connects the bay with Panama, was then building, and ran, as far as we could see, on piles, connected with the town by a wooden jetty. It seemed as capital a nursery for ague and fever as Death could hit upon anywhere, and those on board the steamer who knew it confirmed my opinion."
Doesn't she have a marvelous talent for detailing a setting?
****Original Review**** I definitely didn't follow the details as well via audio, but it was absolutely still worth listening to. Someday, if I study more about Crimea, I would really like to revisit this with my eyes. Mrs. Seacole was a boss and had a wonderful gift for description. I felt transported to the places where she lived and I learned a lot from her. I didn't get to save any quotes before my hold went back to the library ...more
The first time I've heard the story of a kotjebi (a street child in North Korea) from their own perspective. Absolutely harrowing! Okay for teenagers,The first time I've heard the story of a kotjebi (a street child in North Korea) from their own perspective. Absolutely harrowing! Okay for teenagers, too....more
Really interesting and unique in that the family was well respected in Pyongyang, fell from favor, and spent a decade in one of North Korea's re-educaReally interesting and unique in that the family was well respected in Pyongyang, fell from favor, and spent a decade in one of North Korea's re-education camps....more
One of my favorites of 2023. I learned so much from the profile of 6 very different North Koreans and was gripped to the end - two of the refugees actOne of my favorites of 2023. I learned so much from the profile of 6 very different North Koreans and was gripped to the end - two of the refugees actually knew eachother in NK! This is an older book profiling some of the very first known refugees, but well worth reading for the history....more
Jenny's complaint about this one was that she wasn't sure of the target audience. Readers already familiar with Paul will already know a lot of it. I Jenny's complaint about this one was that she wasn't sure of the target audience. Readers already familiar with Paul will already know a lot of it. I agree. Wright spends a lot of time outlining and quoting from each of Paul's letters to the point that I keep finding myself wondering why I'm reading this instead of just reading Paul's letters themselves. But I try to read the Bible daily already, so. This might be a better read for someone less familiar with the Bible. There was great moments and quotes throughout, but a lot of it is not new info for me. DNF.
This is a special book chronicling the life of Misty Copeland, a black ballerina who, as the subtitles note, is also an unlikely ballerina. She was diThis is a special book chronicling the life of Misty Copeland, a black ballerina who, as the subtitles note, is also an unlikely ballerina. She was discovered through a boys and girls club I believe when she was a young teenager living with several siblings in a hotel with their single mother. Although her family loved her, her upbringing was tough. Her mother moved in with boyfriend after boyfriend; and while Misty did not experience racism herself, as a child, it was directed at one of her younger siblings by one of the boyfriends; and they also faced other abuse and neglect by the men. Ballet was Misty’s happy place, an escape from anxiety and the migraine headaches that used to torture her as a result. Misty is very humble about all the praise and help she gets and that comes through very strongly in this book. But she is a prodigy- from her spingy body, to her strong feet (pointe in just a few months! After starting ballet so late!), to her ability to copy anybody’s action with her body very easily and quickly. I enjoyed this soo much on audiobook and definitely recommend to hear a truly amazing story. It’s like she’s a friend telling you her fascinating life story. ...more
This book really touched the hearts of several people I know, but for me the writing and ideas were too simple; I already read the Bible every day, soThis book really touched the hearts of several people I know, but for me the writing and ideas were too simple; I already read the Bible every day, so I felt like I wasn't getting much out of it. I prefer meatier Christian thought like C. S. Lewis and Dorothy L. Sayers....more
Congo. A mystery for so long, Congo caught the world’s attention in the late 19th century as an incredible source of natural resourceRating: 100/100%
Congo. A mystery for so long, Congo caught the world’s attention in the late 19th century as an incredible source of natural resources. Unfortunately, by the time imperialists realized their sins and abruptly left the county, the native inhabitants were left with a shattered state. On the first day of Congo's independence in 1960, they inherited an impressive infrastructure but had no native professionals qualified to run it: no officers, physicians, engineers, lawyers, agronomists, or economists. This is where Congo natives suffered under colonization: they had been hindered from graduating college and rising into these positions. As a result, chaos descended. Since then, it has suffered through dictators, war with neighboring nations, and chaos. The last update in David Van Reybrouck’s Congo is heartbreaking: “On an average, one pays taxes thirty times a year. The tax on profits equals almost 60 percent—money that never ends up with the common Congolese citizen.22 What that common Congolese citizen does end up with is disease. The infant mortality rate is one of the world’s highest: 161 out of every 1,000 children do not live to the age of five. One out of every three children under the age of five is underweight. Life expectancy at birth is forty-six years. Almost 30 percent of the population is illiterate, 50 percent of the children do not attend elementary school, 54 percent of the population has no access to clean drinking water."
That’s what I learned from this book. I’m still new to nonfiction and before reading this book, I knew nothing about Congolese history; but I found this extremely impressive: it’s very readable and it includes an incredible amount of direct testimony from Congolese citizens who lived the history of the nation. His examples, often drawn from that direct testimony, show the complexity of the problems facing Congo, its inhabitants, and even its invaders. The history is checkered, and there is no easy way forward. I’m grateful for books like these that are readable and authoritative, although I’m sure it would help me to read a second book with other perspectives. Maybe I will at some point....more
How To Know The Birds teaches readers exactly what the title suggests and more in short, engaging essays. Very enjoyable, easy reading, although it neHow To Know The Birds teaches readers exactly what the title suggests and more in short, engaging essays. Very enjoyable, easy reading, although it needs to be supplemented by color sketches. The pencil sketches inside seem unhelpful, to me, as a beginner. The book talks about all the tools available to help the modern birder (volunteer initiatives, types of guides, birding strategies, apps, etc.) and the environmental or birding politics to consider (basically that using less energy gets more done than most political initiatives, and that we can still have urban landscapes coexist alongside a healthy natural environment). At times, Floyd ranges into preaching about how to protect the environment; but overall, he’s just giving his well-informed opinion on how our every action effects the birds, and nature lovers can surely appreciate that perspective....more
About: What is it like to be an intellectual? How about a Christian intellectual? That’s the premise of this nonfiction read.
My Thoughts: The most usAbout: What is it like to be an intellectual? How about a Christian intellectual? That’s the premise of this nonfiction read.
My Thoughts: The most useful thing for me about this book is that it describes the kind of person who will do well as an intellectual. (Or, if you’re a Christian, the person who is called by God to become an intellectual.) Sire marks the difference between having intelligence and being an intellectual. I’m kicking myself for not taking down that quote, but basically it means this: Being intelligent means seeking knowledge for what it can help you do; being an intellectual means examining ideas for the sake of the ideas themselves. Reading this, I knew immediately that I would fit better in the former camp—which is exactly what I picked up this book to discover. I prefer to read things that are of immediate use to me; I want to be intelligent in my field (which will hopefully be writing genre fiction, one day), but I’ll never be an intellectual.
I ended up skimming a lot, after the preface and first chapter (although I also enjoyed the chapter “how thinking feels”) because I found it was not relevant to my life after the above revelation. But other readers might find other chapters to be extremely relevant and helpful, such as the one about “Thinking by Reading.” As an English major, I already do that, but it was a nice refresher—especially the section about reading with an attention to the worldview of the author.
Other Ideas That Stood Out:
“All intellectuals are in love with ideas; not all intellectuals are in love with truth. Some whom I am willing to call intellectuals do not even believe there is a truth of any substantial kind." Basically, he says (and I agree) that Christian intellectuals should develop a love of truth, as our worldview clearly necessitates the existence of absolute truth.
I found his breakdown of the intellectual virtues stimulating. For example, he discusses courage at length, and here’s a quote I loved: “Courage is also needed if you discover something new or culturally different, something that proves odd to others but true to you. The problem is greater yet when what you come to think of as true is seen not just odd but ‘heretical’ within your own ‘cognitive community.’" He talks about how it can be difficult to lose friends, this way; but you find new ones!
Learning about Lectio Divinia was of major interest, to me, as well. It’s a multi-technique method of deep-soaking in the Bible that I had not come across before. I usually study the Bible, but Lectio Divinia is less about thinking and more about absorbing. He warns us not to do this with other books, as we must allow our “thinking to direct our reading,” in those cases. “We read not just to listen to what others say and to discern what others think; we read to learn the truth, do you know and participate in the reality God has created, not the reality only imagine by others." The Bible is the truth; other books are the human’s picture of the truth.
On that note, the section on “reading worldviewishly” is extremely helpful for anyone looking to pay attention to the way an author thinks.
I think I’ll end this review & summary with the happiest quote of the book, for book lovers worried about all those books they’ll never get to: “Ah! But there’s a heaven! Heaven will be a place that fulfills my longest longings. Either I will have time to read all the books that I have not read before or I will receive something even better.”
Overall: I probably won’t read anything else by this author because I’ve hardly broken the surface of the Christian intellectual scene and have a huge booklist as is; but this book told me exactly what I needed to know about myself, and for that I’m very grateful....more
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