What to say about Alberto Manguel's delightful tome... well, let's start with a quote...
"We can imagine the books we'd like to read, even if they have not been written, and we can imagine libraries full of books we would like to possess, even if they are beyond our reach, because we enjoy dreaming up a library that reflects every one of our interests and every one of our foibles - a library that, in it's variety and complexity, fully reflects the reader we are. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that, in a similar fashion, the identity of a society, or a national identity, can be mirrored by a library, by an assembly of titles that, practically and symbolically, serves as our collective definition." (page 294)
This is one of the two best books about libraries I've read in the last ten years and both were written by non-librarians (the other was Nicholson Baker's Double Fold). It's a book I wish I had written or better yet that another librarian had written, but sadly the sort of explorative and expansive thinking involved seems beyond the grasp of our profession (we are a "science" after all and maybe as such we expect a certain dullness and orderliness to our processes; Note: I would love to see this claim contradicted and someone recommend a book about libraries written by a professional that is actually interesting to read, rather than simply interesting topically).
Manguel is a well respected novelist, essayist (he wrote the equally charming A History of Reading) and bibliophile. He starts off thinking of his own considerable personal library and uses that as a springboard to discuss the place of libraries (and books) both in society and more ethereal places (like the mind).
Chapters include... The Library as Myth... The Library as Chance... The Library as Island... and The Library as Home... and so on...
It's a wonderful meandering book the experience of reading is similar to casually browsing a library's shelves and then suddenly coming across a gem to read that you never knew was there.
If there's any weakness to this book it's that Manguel posits many more questions than answers, which oddly enough is my experience with most articles and books in the professional literature.
This is a book for anyone interested in libraries and their place in our lives.
