February Reads!

February was a busy month and also a short one, so only two books for you all. But these books, while few, are wonderful, wonderful reads! The first book is a non-fiction book about the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Central Library and the significance of libraries and the second book is a beautiful Greek-mythology story about Achilles and Patroclus! I hope you enjoy :)

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Genre: Non-fiction

Page length: 317 pages

Trigger warnings: Mental health struggles, homelessness, accounts of racism and homophobia

Favorite line(s):

“In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library has burned. When I first heard the phrase, I didn’t understand it, but over time I came to realize it was perfect. Our minds and souls contain volumes inscribed by our experiences and emotions; each individual’s consciousness is a collection of memories we’ve cataloged and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived.”

“The library is a gathering pool of narratives and of the people who come to find them. It is where we can glimpse immortality; in the library, we can live forever.”

“All the things that are wrong in the world seem conquered by a library’s simple unspoken promise: Here I am, please tell me your story; here is my story, please listen.”

The Library Book by Susan Orlean quickly made it to my top 10 list, which has remained relatively untouched and unchanged for the past four years or so. This book centers around the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Central Library and the man that supposedly started the fire. But intertwined with that story is a larger story of libraries as a whole - their history, significance and importance to society, and why we should value libraries within our own lives. As a bibliophile, this book resonated with me beyond just a good story. I was fascinated by the mystery of the fire and the “whodunnit” plot line throughout the book, but I was really enthralled by the beautiful picture of libraries that Susan Orlean painted. Libraries are not just important to our society and world, they are essential. Libraries truly are the last place where we can just exist and spend our time without any expectation of spending money and we can just be. It is also an incredibly diverse place with young children and the elderly, people experiencing homelessness and those who are of higher socioeconomic status, people come to libraries to connect with others, their inner self, to escape the world, to find meaning, to relax, to access free wifi, and more! Susan Orlean takes the reader on an in-depth look at the role that libraries have played in our society by interviewing librarians about their work, tracing the history of libraries (particularly Los Angeles Central Library) and significant players involved. At the beginning of each chapter, Orlean lists the names and shelf location (Dewey Decimal System!) of three or four books that related either directly or indirectly to the topic of that chapter. It made me think about how many books there are in this world and how behind each book, there is a human being who had something that they wanted to say and a story they wanted to share and the time, energy, and effort they put into authoring the book that now sits on our shelves. I should warn you now, I’ve come to realize in this adventure of book reviewing, I don’t make the greatest reviewer. It’s not that I don’t have opinions or things to say or even preferences, it’s just that as I sit down to write a “review” I first and foremost think about the fact that there is an author behind this book who had a story to tell and took the time and courage to finally tell it; and this book beautifully exemplified the power of books and storytelling. At the end of this book, Orlean writes, “The library is a listening post. You don’t need to take a book off a shelf to know there is a voice inside that is waiting to speak to you, and behind that was someone who truly believed that if he or she spoke, someone would listen.” What is reading if not listening? So this book, about the Los Angeles Central Library Fire, more broadly encouraged us to continue listening, and showed that libraries are the greatest place to do that.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Genre: Fiction/Greek mythology

Page length: 416

Trigger warnings: war/violence, mentions of rape/sexual assault, self-harm, loss of loved ones

Favorite line(s):

“And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone”

After this book was recommended to me by at least five people, I thought it was time to finally read it. I was excited to reconnect with my Percy Jackson obsessed self and dive into Greek mythology again. I knew the general story of Achilles (you know the one, that warrior who was dipped in the river to become immortal but only his heel wasn’t protected, then an arrow in the heel killed him… tough way to go!) Any who, this book tells a different side of the Achilles story, through the voice of Patroclus. It is a beautiful story of friendship, love, loss, and grief. Madeline Miller’s writing feels like prose, transporting me back to the world of The Odyssey, but in a way that is digestible and humanizing. I remember spending hours trying to decipher the meaning of The Odyssey and The Iliad before ultimately resorting to Spark Notes to help me decipher the prose. The Song of Achilles highlights a part of a story that isn’t well known - it, as my friend so beautifully shared, is a “queer telling of a tale as old as time” It took Miller over 10 years to write, as she worked tirelessly to depict the voice of Patroclus. It was evident how much care and time Miller put into each one of her characters, but particularly Patroclus. As I was reading, I felt connected to each character. Whenever I opened the book, I felt like I was hanging out and catching up with old friends. I was cheering for them, I mourned and celebrated with them, and I felt honored to observe and be a part of their life for a short while.