Susan Orlean made her first appearance on the program to discuss the paperback reissue of her bestseller "The Library Book." I had wanted to interview Susan for some time. A number of years ago she wrote a book about Rin Tin Tin and I really wanted to interview her for that non-fiction history of the 1950's canine TV star but I could never arrange to get her on the schedule to do that. Then when "The Library Book" came out in hardcover I tried again to get an interview but had no luck again.
I didn't give up. When the book came out recently in paperback I tried again to schedule her and voila! At last, I got it arranged. I have been reading Susan's work for years, she's a long-time staff writer for the New Yorker magazine. "The Library Book" is a fascinating history of the Los Angeles Public Library and in particular, the building that became the main facility of that library system which was eventually built in downtown Los Angeles.
That building caught on fire during the 1980's and it was probably the result of the efforts of an arsonist but that was never conclusively proven and nobody was ever convicted of setting that structure ablaze.
If you love libraries I think that you'll probably really enjoy this book.
Book Nook Bonus Segment
We had a little extra time to fill so we went back into our archive and closed out the program with an interview I did a number of years ago with the musician John Hammond Jr.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Microsun Lamps.
