Anne Strainchamps and Susan Orlean at the National Writers Series. Shannon Henry Kleiber (TTBOOK)
What makes books feel unique as physical objects, even sacred? If they are sacred, does that make libraries temples? Susan Orlean — author of "The Library Book" — spoke about what she learned about the unique cultural position books and libraries hold, something that emerged in the course of her research into a fire at the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986.
Anne spoke with Orlean live on stage at the National Writers Series in Traverse City, Michigan.
We'll have audio from that conversation soon, but here's a Twitter recap, courtesy of the National Writers Series.
We’re switching to threaded tweets now for An Evening with @SusanOrlean and Anne @Strainchamps. @SimonBooks Susan Orlean is a @UMich grad. Go Blue! pic.twitter.com/eZ9FwBdeCM
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
Anne @Strainchamps says Traverse City is “the most library loving town ever.” @notjustbooks had more than a million checkouts last year. pic.twitter.com/FVJonVt5LO
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
Does everyone have a memory of a parent taking them to the library? @SusanOrlean says, in her experience, they do. She’s now reading part of The Library Book about her own childhood visits. pic.twitter.com/Ufqs7NOety
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
Do you think libraries have a certain smell? Does it matter which library you’re in? @susanorlean was at her childhood library just last night, but says library memories flood her no matter what library she’s in. pic.twitter.com/RlGZiOBu05
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
Anne @Strainchamps says her husband is “creeped out” by libraries, maybe because other people touched the books. @susanorlean says yes, in history, that was a concern and you weren’t allowed to check out a book if you had a contagious disease. pic.twitter.com/AsJjNNHwat
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
Annie @Strainchamps’s first job was in a library. She was a page. “If I’d been promoted would I have been a chapter?” pic.twitter.com/zZu9Bknpxi
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
It was serendipitous how @susanorlean found out about the @lapulidotrina fire. She got a tour of the library, loved it immensely, and her guide smelled a book. “You can still small the smoke from the fire.” What fire? pic.twitter.com/VvnAv3hcOn
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
The 1986 fire closed the @LAPublicLibrary for seven years. “The minute I heard that, I knew I had to write about it,” said @susanorlean. Burned for 7.5 hours, reached 2,500 degrees, 400,000 books destroyed, 700,000 damaged. Arson. pic.twitter.com/dO9oe1Zrn3
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
.@susanorlean had to learn about the physics of fire and spent a lot of time with fire investigators to write The Library Book. She’s reading a section about that now. pic.twitter.com/alzJ5J6XXl
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
Firefighters who were used to seeing all kinds of fires, epic fires and lots of fires, all said the @LAPublicLibrary was different. When you think about it, says @susanorlean, libraries are full of fuel — and most at that time didn’t have sprinkler systems. pic.twitter.com/AYWf9VqGt7
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
The @LAPublicLibrary also had several fire code violations in 1986, says @susanorlean, like no fire doors, books stacked everywhere, overcrowded. pic.twitter.com/lu8b0q0Ji3
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
What’s your process, asks Anne @Strainchamps. “I’m drawn to subjects I know nothing about,” says @susanorlean, “and learn everything I can.” Central issue + spokes in every direction. History of LA, libraries, fire, arson investigation. pic.twitter.com/OJgDjBz9ts
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
“I like to write with a sense of authority,” says @susanorlean. She wants to move from student to teacher in her research. “I want to know the story so well I can tell it to you. That’s the intimacy I want the book to have.” pic.twitter.com/bT1yrC81Iz
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
So @susanorlean learned all this, but how to put it together? “I kept thinking one timeline would emerge as dominant” but she also wanted to tell the story of the day-to-day life of a library and make that point that libraries matter. “It felt like 5 or 6 books.” pic.twitter.com/abgL9s80nl
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
.@susanorlean realized the story was multiple strands and trust that the reader could move among them. The history of LA IS important to the story, the history of libraries IS important. But the structure of The Library Book was “tough.” She did have color-coded index cards. pic.twitter.com/arvTty8Ehr
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
The arson suspect made “the fundamental mistake” of telling a lot of people he started the fire, @susanorlean said. He also had 7 alibis. “I now know you should only have one,” she says. “I’m much better equipped to commit a felony.” pic.twitter.com/MMPsslUnaC
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
The suspect, Harry Peek, was charming and cute and had dreams of being an actor (but he had bad stage fright), says @susanorlean, but there really wasn’t anything solid pointing to him as the arsonist, she says. pic.twitter.com/9m4WZ7RLBm
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
.@susanorlean told her publisher, @SimonBooks, sure, she’d solve this mystery. But ... midway through the book she found herself torn that Harry Peek had started the fire. It’s still unresolved. “We don’t know,” she says. She hopes readers are comfortable with ambivalence. pic.twitter.com/Evs3u3NA93
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
What is it about burning BOOKS, asks Anne @Strainchamps? Books and libraries have a connection to us that is beyond the logical, says @susanorlean. They’re a sort of extension of the human mind and spirit. pic.twitter.com/3zNB8VMDhw
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
A book has the potentiality of human life, says Milton (via @susanorlean) and burning them is horrendous because it erases. It’s as if YOU, your community never existed. pic.twitter.com/jTiX7UlCWP
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
Books are immortal, which is the one we can’t be, says @susanorlean. When you walk into a #library, you get a feeling that you’re surrounded by the voices of history. pic.twitter.com/iKbt3cutGI
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
African proverb? When an old man dies, a library burns. @susanorlean says that became an underlying principle of The Library Book. When her mother was diagnosed with dementia, she understood. When you lose a mind you lose the memories. pic.twitter.com/vaFmlgkIZv
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
Now @susanorlean is reading a section of The Library Book about the destruction of books during #WWII. “The level of destruction was astonishing,” she says. pic.twitter.com/UXCyRWSaSv
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
There have been great efforts made to save books, when possible, and we keep returning to the book as the way we convey knowledge, says @susanorlean. It’s encouraging. But we burn books because they matter. pic.twitter.com/UnmtidjUN8
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 16, 2019
Many librarians stood for 7 hours watching the @LAPublicLibrary burn, then spent years putting it back together. They were traumatized, says @susanorlean. “They build collections. And they were horrified that the patrons wouldn’t have a place to go.” pic.twitter.com/w4MLAbuSPX
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
The books in the fire had to be put in cold storage, frozen solid, says @susanorlean. You have to worry about mold. Who has a freezer big enough for 700,000 books? (They were put in food storage places.) McDonnell Douglas and the Jet Propulsion Lab got involved, too. pic.twitter.com/2IxvCnmn5z
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
It was the largest book restoration project in history and it was mostly successful, says @susanorlean. It involved raising and lowering air pressure, drying, reminding. The aerospace industry took it on as a challenge. pic.twitter.com/Exugnq5xWR
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
There were many moments in writing The Library Book that made me feel like there was a lot of good that came out of this rather epically bad event, says @susanorlean. The City of LA really came together. pic.twitter.com/lkTBp6MUfe
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
What’s the state of libraries today, asks Anne @Strainchamps. In spite of the prediction that books and libraries are dead, they are not, far from it, says @susanorlean. pic.twitter.com/FwLFRGIAkl
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
People thought the Internet would kill libraries, but librarians said, “No, this is just another tool,” says @susanorlean. Librarians are always looking forward. pic.twitter.com/2r1VdmaTv1
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Anne @Strainchamps asks @susanorlean to recommend a book that changed her life. “The Sound and the Fury” by William Faulkner. “I began re-reading it before I finished reading it.” pic.twitter.com/pAvVZHKyWX
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Years later, she got fixed up with an investment banker and thought, Yuck. But she asked his favorite book and he said The Sound and the Fury and, reader, she married him. pic.twitter.com/dL1PlWklAp
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Audience Q&A: The design of the hardcover is perfect. @susanorlean says the paperback is beautiful too! @SimonBooks pic.twitter.com/OJOFjYMO6g
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Q: The bibliographies at the beginning of each chapter? @susanorlean: I wanted the book to feel like a library, browsing, find a book with a connection. They’re all real, they’re all in the @LAPublicLibrary and they all have something to do with what’s in the chapter. pic.twitter.com/2P34AMtqmo
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Q: You said, writing is like a slow wrestling match. Is that good or bad? @susanorlean: Before I started, I didn’t feel like getting into several years of writing. But I ended up doing it again so I guess I like wrestling. pic.twitter.com/lgIKNXpawB
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Q: Why did it take 7 years to reopen the library? @susanorlean: The restoration and (a long-planned) expansion of the @LAPublicLibrary, complicated financing, raise $ to rebuild collection. pic.twitter.com/sPrwyikiJX
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Q: The role of being a writer and libraries. Do they overlap? @susanorlean: I use libraries for a lot of research and not just for this book. For Rin Tin Tin, all the material was in libraries. Plus, I wrote a lot of The Library Book in the @LAPublicLibrary. pic.twitter.com/Ax60QF3V6J
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Q: What are you working on now? @susanorlean: You only dread that question when you’re not working on anything. The Library Book is being adapted for TV (“fun, completely different”), and a memoir (“I resisted and I’m researching by reading my own work”). pic.twitter.com/gVqRBSvSNW
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Q: What percentage of books are sold to libraries? @susanorlean: I don’t know the specifics but libraries buy a lot of books. Every writer I know supports libraries wholeheartedly. Plus, they have to replace worn-out books. pic.twitter.com/1NPLgzbzRH
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019
Q: A patron at the @LAPublicLibrary asked: Which is more evil, a grasshopper or a cricket? @susanorlean spent time in every dept of the library and a reference librarian got that question. Librarians treated it very seriously. “I had a blast enjoying the wonderful randomness.” pic.twitter.com/ogAUwzhpFd
— Nat'l Writers Series (@TCWritersSeries) October 17, 2019