By Susan Orlean
Simon & Schuster, 2018, Nonfiction, 319 p.
In 1986 there was a terrible fire in the Los Angeles Central Library. Over 400,000 books either burned or were destroyed by water and over $2,000,000 of damage was done to the building. Fire investigators thought the fire was the result of arson, and believed that a man, Harry Peal, was the one that held the match, but there was never enough evidence to convict him. Thirty years later the library has been rebuilt and expanded, but the mystery remains. In this engaging nonfiction Ms Orlean has done an amazing amount of research to lay all the evidence before the reader. She also gives an fascinating history of one of the US's most innovative libraries, and a peek into what life at the LA Library is like today. Part mystery, part love song to public libraries, this is a great choice for anyone who ever felt at home with a library book in their hand.
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