Book review: The Librarianist
A Book review: The Librarianist – for book lovers of all persuasions.
Bob is a man who finds solace in books, and the quiet order of a library before opening time. Seeing himself as ‘a tool, a mechanism of the library machinery,’ counteracts his shyness about dealing with the public.
Aware that he reads rather than lives,
‘Bob had long given up on the notion of knowing anyone, or of being known. He communicated with the world partly by walking through it, but mainly by reading about it.’
You’ll find archetypes of love and loss within these pages, poignant vignettes of betrayal and hope. DeWitt writes with wit, compassion and a side order of bizarre.
The Financial Time’s reviewer Isabel Berwick puts this book gently in the category of ‘elder-lit’, recognising its contribution to ‘intergenerational understanding.’
The Librarianist, by Patrick deWitt, published by Bloomsbury.
Buy your paperback copy of The Librarianist from Golden Hare Books using codebookbinderbookreview41 for 10% off! Valid until 20th November.
Thank you! I have just ordered this from the Golden Hare for my sister-in-law’s birthday. I’m hoping she will let me borrow it …
Ah that’s lovely news Ama – thank you!
I am a volunteer librarian in a small theological library. I have the grand title of “Honorary Diocesan Librarian”. The honour is entirely mine. I love sitting amongst the books. I look on them as companions.
During the pandemic the library was closed to visitors but I could go in, ostensibly to respond to email requests from borowers. There weren’t any. So I tidied the shelves, corrected errors on the catalogue, relabelled books, and just basked in the order and calm. While the outside world was riven with anger and chaos, this little haven remained pristine and it was there just for me. No one borrowed any books. No one came in and made a noise. The books and I just rested in the calm and looked at each other. I smiled and they smiled back at me. Bliss.
How very wonderful. Thank you Simon for painting such a picture of order and calm….
You’re welcome. By the same token, thank you for these newsletters that remind me about Iona and the joy of making things. I have some driftwood that I collected from the North End – a sea battered piece of a pallet, that I have sawn in half and will make into a driftwood book at some point. I will be thinking of you and the island as I do it.
That is wonderful news Simon, thank you again