Rate this book

The Library Book (2012)

by Alan Bennett(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1781250057 (ISBN13: 9781781250051)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Profile Books

review 1: This is a collection of articles and stories about libraries. Sadly, I suspect that it only reached those who already are passionate supporters of both libraries and reading generally - not the people making the decisions to close libraries or those unaware of or indifferent to the importance of local libraries. Contributors range from the great and good - Alan Bennett and Stephen Fry - to authors and journalists and Nick Wire of the Manic Street Preachers. An odd collection of different styles but with one overwhelming message - Libraries Matter.
review 2: This is a timely anthology clearly brought out with the intention of hitting back at the current appalling situation in Britain at the moment (although not all the contributions address it, of course). Th... moreere are a couple of short stories in which libraries feature, some reminiscences, and a couple of historical essays. Most however clearly have in mind the danger in which British public libraries are currently (it has been estimated that at least 10% will close), and make a number of very perceptive points about their worth. Caitlin Moran, for instance, points out that there is no plan for what happens when the (alleged) financial situation ends (but she doesn't quite follow this through - we know that there is no exit plan because we know that "shrinking the state" is the aim, so there will of course be no intention to fund libraries again once they are gone). Zadie Smith and Alan Bennett put the political philosophy behind the closures very succinctly. One author says that libraries on the face of it are not in authors' best interests because the books are free and the author apparently loses potential sales (an argument sometimes made by publishers and booksellers) - although she doesn't necessarily agree - but Ann Cleeves points out that libraries are themselves customers, who can experiment with less well known and new authors where bookshops might not take the risk, and that libraries can be a shop window for potential buyers of books too. Nobody really addresses the detrimental effect of supplier selection and the marketisation of book purchasing which has led to libraries being a bit more like shops than they used to be (no doubt some of these authors think the librarians still mainly buy the books themselves!) The advantages of having somewhere where you can find somebody's long out-of-print backlist are mentioned, but this has been partly lost already with commercialised collection policies. However,this book will at least cheer you up if in despair at the current iconoclastic assault on libraries and librarians, if only in that it is an eloquent record of the dissenting voices. less

Download links for: The Library Book

Advertising