The Giving Book: A Review of the Library Book
The Library Book, fitting in with my
trend of loving to read books about books, is a collection of short stories and
essays all centered on the theme of the importance of libraries. The range of stories includes essays
that describe the writer’s formative personal experiences in a libraries,
essays on the politics of libraries, and creative short stories emphasizing the
magic that is held inside a library for many people. As a whole it is a strong collection of writing, but a few
essays stood out as particularly apt in my mind. The first piece that really caught my attention was Hardeep
Singh Kohli’s story “The Punk and Langside Library”. This tale took to heart one of the most important writing
lessons I have ever learned: show, don’t tell. Kolhi’s unexpected encounter with the punk teen demonstrates
how not everything a library has to offer is contained in a book. As a community meeting ground,
libraries can also help to foster cultural understanding in the simplest of
ways: allowing people of all backgrounds to come together and just be. On the other end of the spectrum was
the last essay prior to the afterword by Karin Slaughter. Reprinted from The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, Slaughter’s article argued passionately that libraries
are an essential element of freedom.
Interestingly enough, it is the only essay in the collection written
from an American perspective. This
to me seemed a fitting way to end the book. Because though it clearly has a different voice and setting
(a refreshingly familiar one to an American reader) than the essays written by
the British authors, its themes were identical and show the universal nature of
the impact libraries can have.
But what makes this book special is not just the stories it
contains but purpose behind the book itself. Published in February 2012 by Profile Books in London, all
royalties produced by this book go not the contributors, but to the Reading
Agency, a charity based in England that works to improve libraries as a
community resource and to encourage reading among both adults and children
throughout the UK. While I believe
that reading any book is always personally empowering, it is always nice to
know there is a measurable effect in the outside world as well. For this reason alone, I would
encourage people to go out and buy this book regardless of its quality. Because readers don’t encourage others
to read who will?
For more information about the Reading Agency check out their website at: http://readingagency.org.uk/
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