The Paris Library

 By Janet Skeslien Charles

Atria     2021

368 pages     Historical Fiction

The Paris Library is the librarian’s dream book—a young librarian saves the world with books! With the Dewey Decimal System thrown in. Well, not exactly, but sort of. Honestly, it is much more than that. The book deals with a little-known aspect of World War II in France; its impact on the arts and culture of the city.

Odile Souchet is a young woman who has just gotten a job at the American Library in Paris. The library is one of the centers of American culture in Paris and the gathering spot for American scholars and researchers as well as American families living in the city. After the invasion, Jews are not allowed to enter the library, so Odile and the other librarians send books to the Allied troops stationed around France and sneak books to their Jewish patrons, an obvious act of resistance. When she realizes that her father and other police officers are putting the city’s Jewish population into internment camps, she feels confused and betrayed. Especially by Paul, her fiancé, who is a police officer as well. She does everything she can to continue to serve her patrons and save them from capture. As the war ends, Paul is involved in one final, major act of betrayal which causes Odile to forsake everything and escape Paul, her family, and the library that has given her strength.

Juxtaposed with this story line is the story of Lily, a teenager living in small-town Montana in 1983 and yearning for a bigger life. Odile is her elderly, reclusive neighbor. Lily wonders how this French woman ever got to Montana and sets out to understand her story. The friendship the two form ends up being healing for both of them and moves the story forward in unexpected ways. It, in itself, is a lovely story.

Just recently, I read of some art work that was hidden from the Nazis and recently recovered. So, reading about the hiding of first editions of classic literature and the defiance of librarians was not unexpected. I have always maintained that librarians are among the champions of the rights of the people, and it was affirmative for me to read of these women and men and their fight to protect the library, its books, and its patrons.

The author, Janet Charles, was the program manager at the American Library when she started to hear the stories of the resistance and the brave librarians at the American Library. This caused her to do a great deal of meticulous research into these brave souls, many of whom are portrayed in context, although Odile is the creation of the author. Additionally, the author grew up in small-town Montana so she understands well Lily’s need to move into a bigger world.

The Library Journal has a very astute look at the library and the librarians who appear in the novel. The article talks about Miss Reeder, the director of the library, who appears in the novel, all the books that they delivered, and with Dr. Fuchs, the Nazi “Library Protector” who appeared off and on to inspect the library. Additionally, the author has included on her website some of the research she used in developing the novel. There are pictures, newspaper articles, and reports. It really resonates.

The Kirkus review concludes that The Paris Library is a “novel tailor-made for those who cherish books and libraries.” Although there are a monumental number of World War II books out and about these days, The Paris Library deserves readers’ attention. 

 

 

The Library Book

By Susan Orlean

Simon and Schuster     2018

336 pages     Nonfiction

I will just start out by saying quite flatly, The Library Book is the best book I have read this year. More than just an exploration of the fire that destroyed the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986, Susan Orlean’s newest book, The Library Book, is a love story about libraries, librarians, and books.

Susan Orlean had just recently moved to the Los Angeles area when she learned about the library fire that had happened decades ago. She had decided that with this move, she was done with writing books—too long, too hard. “Working on them felt like a slow-motion wrestling match.” Yet, she became so intrigued with the fire that she couldn’t stand not getting involved. And her narrative encompasses not just the fire, but the history of the Los Angeles Public Library, one of the first major library systems in the country, as well as the challenges libraries across the country face in the 21^st century.

There are a lot of stories being told. There are Orlean’s reminiscences about growing up reading and combing the library stacks as a young girl with her mother. There are the stories about the people who directed the Los Angeles library through its history. There are details about the fire and how it spread. There are interviews with many librarians, patrons, and the security guard. She even explored the life of Harry Peak, the young man who was accused of starting the fire, although he was never charged with the crime.

One of my favorite quotes from the book: “Libraries may embody our notion of permanence, but their patrons are always in flux. In truth, a library is as much a portal as it is a place—it is a transit point, a passage.” This type of philosophical pondering fills the pages and echoes what I have always felt about libraries. The book filled me with remembrance of the two Carnegie libraries of my childhood and youth in Little Falls and  Duluth Minnesota—particularly of the marble stairways leading up to the treasure trove of magic—of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Louisa May Alcott and on and on and on. It reminded me of my career choice of being a children’s librarian and how much I loved story time and reading precious picture books to rapt audiences of children. It also reminded me of how busy the Kalamazoo Public Library is, the tremendous number of activities that go on there daily, and the sheer number of people who walk through the doors every day. For example, this morning I booked an appointment to the free legal clinic for a friend. The library has always been a portal for me, and Orlean expands on that sense of discovery in every way possible.

Most of all, thankfully, The Library Book is an ode to the public library and its place in the lives of the patrons and the communities in which they reside. Orlean says, “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.” Susan Orlean has a marvelous article about growing up in the library in The New Yorker, where she is a frequent contributor.

Here are a few of my favorite books about libraries: The World’s Strongest Librarian; This Book is Overdue;  and The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu. Here is also where you can find an essay I wrote several years ago about public libraries.

The Library Book is narrative non-fiction at its best.  Go to your closest library and check it out. You will love it as much as I did.

The Man Who Came Uptown

By George Pelecanos

Mulholland Books     2018

262 pages     Noir

Although The Man Who Came Uptown reads more like literary fiction than it does mystery or noir, George Pelecanos is widely understood to be a writer of crime fiction. He is also a television writer and producer. I watched two of his shows and loved them—The Wire and ‘Treme. He also wrote The Deuce.

The reason why this feels more literary than crime is that Pelecanos is an incredible storyteller who has a gift for creating believable characters with a lot of depth. Basically there are four main characters: Phil Ornazian, Thaddeus Ward, Michael Hudson, and Miss Anna. Ornazian is a private investigator who is willing and able to do bad stuff, but he feels that he is more a vigilante—killing, and robbing for the good of the community. His ethics, however, are a bit blurred, but he comes across as likable, mostly because he goes home to his wife and family every day. His partner is Thaddeus Ward, an ex-cop and now bail bondsman. Together they target criminals that they know have a lot of money. They contract some of their work; the rest they take the spoils.

Michael Hudson, on the other hand, is a nice guy who is in the county jail awaiting trial. While at the jail, he discovers literature through the gentle recommendations of the young librarian, Miss Anna. Charges are dropped through the efforts of Ornazian, and Michael returns to his mother’s home, determined to make a new start on life. He is such a believable and likable character that I was anxious to complete the book because I cared so much about him.

Of course there is crime. Ornazian reminds Michael that “he owes” him, so Michael drives for him when Ornazian and Ward go on the attack. The beauty of the book lies not so much with the plot and the crime story but with the relationship Michael develops with the librarian and with the joy Miss Anna has in recommending books to the jail prisoners. She teaches Michael to love reading through the books she recommends. The first thing he does when he gets out of jail is to buy a bookcase. Michael thinks, “When he read a book, he wasn’t in his cage anymore.” As a reader and a librarian, this brought joy to my heart.

There is a redemptive aspect of this book that moves The Man Who Came Uptown out of classic crime noir to literary fiction and moves the reader to remember the books that saved her. It was, for me, a great introduction to a wonderful author.