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The Library at Night
 
 

The Library at Night (Hardcover)

by Alberto Manguel (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 29.20
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Product Description

Review

"In my personal library of imaginary places, and more specifically on the bookcases near my desk, I maintain a shelf reserved for brilliant readers. There's rarely any turnover. Borges, Calvino, Benjamin and Zweig (plus a few other steadfast patrons). With Manguel's The Library at Night, that will clearly have to change."-Allen Kurzweil, author of The Grand Complication and A Case of Curiosities (Allen Kurzweil 20080511)

"In a good book, certain passages stand out because they are well written. In a great book, nothing stands out because nothing can. The Library at Night is one of those great books."-The Globe and Mail (Globe and Mail 20080401)

"Alberto Manguel . . . the Argentine-born author and bibliophile celebrates books as brothers, as crucial companions for a lifetime."-Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune (Julia Keller Chicago Tribune 20080319)

"[A] deliciously rich and lavishly illustrated book of books. . . . [A] magical book."-Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News (Editor's Choice) (Jeff Simon The Buffalo News 20080406)

"Manguel has assembled thumbnail biographies, entertaining anecdotes, close readings, and photographic documentation into a kind of commonplace book stitched together by his amiable prose. . . . The Library at Night . . . communicates the joy and the solace of being yourself a reader."-Brian Sholis, BookForum (Brian Sholis BookForum 20080401)

"In The Library at Night, Alberto Manguel . . . lovingly explores the nooks and crannies of this enchanted domain. To call Mr. Manguel a 'bookman' would be the grossest of understatements. He lives and breathes books."-Eric Ormsby, New York Sun (Eric Ormsby New York Sun 20080427)

"Alberto Manguel has brought out a richly enjoyable book, absolutely enthralling for anyone who loves to read and an inspiration for anybody who has ever dreamed of building a library of his or her own."-Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World (Michael Dirda Washington Post Book World 20080421)

"The success of The Library at Night is the product of a mind made by reading, and the realization of its own essential argument: The library is a mirror in which we find ourselves and our world reflecting and interpenetrating."-Matthew Battles, Wilson Quarterly (Matthew Battles Wilson Quarterly 20080427)

"Books jump out of their jackets when Manguel opens them and dance in delight as they make contact with his ingenious, voluminous brain. He is not the keeper of a silent cemetery, but a master of bibliographical revels."-Peter Conrad, The Observer (Peter Conrad The Observer )

"To read this book is to be invited into a world in which books are both, luxury and necessity, destiny and serendipity, to experience that sweet moment when the world falls away and we are left along with the words on the page."-Susan Larson, New Orleans Times-Picayune (Susan Larson New Orleans Times-Picayune )

"A vivaciously erudite justification for society's inexorable efforts to collect, order and store information. . . . Book lovers will luxuriate in these earnest and impressively researched pages."-Christine Thomas, Miami Herald (Christine Thomas Miami Herald )

". . . a pleasure-especially at this time of . . . internet related uncertainty for libraries. For those . . . who are distressed by the amnesia of the Web, this book is . . . an excellent example of how to rejuvenate the past and continue its conversations."-Ben Carlson, The Atlantic.com (Ben Carlson The Atlantic.com )

Product Description

Inspired by the process of creating a library for his fifteenth-century home near the Loire, in France, Alberto Manguel, the acclaimed writer on books and reading, has taken up the subject of libraries. “Libraries,” he says, “have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as I can remember I’ve been seduced by their labyrinthine logic.” In this personal, deliberately unsystematic, and wide-ranging book, he offers a captivating meditation on the meaning of libraries.

 

Manguel, a guide of irrepressible enthusiasm, conducts a unique library tour that extends from his childhood bookshelves to the “complete” libraries of the Internet, from Ancient Egypt and Greece to the Arab world, from China and Rome to Google. He ponders the doomed library of Alexandria as well as the personal libraries of Charles Dickens, Jorge Luis Borges, and others. He recounts stories of people who have struggled against tyranny to preserve freedom of thought—the Polish librarian who smuggled books to safety as the Nazis began their destruction of Jewish libraries; the Afghani bookseller who kept his store open through decades of unrest. Oral “memory libraries” kept alive by prisoners, libraries of banned books, the imaginary library of Count Dracula, the library of books never written—Manguel illuminates the mysteries of libraries as no other writer could. With scores of wonderful images throughout, The Library at Night is a fascinating voyage through Manguel’s mind, memory, and vast knowledge of books and civilizations.

(20080423)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars perambulating through the stacks, Nov 5 2006
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Smithers, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Library at Night (Hardcover)
I have often said that next to the comforts of my bed are the books that make up my library. To this end, it helps that I have the shelving for many of my books right beside me as I settle down for a late night's read. Manguel's treatise on the hidden nature of libraries throughout the world affirms the point that libraries are the outward expression of an expanding personal search for the illusions of knowledge and truth. Why do we, the self-confessed bibliophiles that we are, buy books simply to read and then protectively place them on shelves to collect dust like trophies and, if we feel gratified, perhaps, guardedly loan one or two to friends as if they were a costly jewel? Manguel provides some intriguing and surprising answers to these and other puzzling questions in this study that poses more like a psychological thriller than a history of libraries. Great read for anyone who has a love affair with books.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring book about books, Feb 26 2007
By Kelly Rossiter (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Library at Night (Hardcover)
The Library at Night is for anyone who has ever said "Yes, actually, I do need all of these books." Alberto Manguel has written an inspiring book about keeping books. He explores all aspects of libraries dropping little facts and bits of wisdom that he has gleaned over the years from collecting and living with printed material. He has so many books that when he lived in Toronto he was forced to shelve them on his front porch. His children complained that they felt the need of a library card in order to enter their home. There is plenty of information here regarding the history of libraries, great collections, famous library buildings, great librarians and certainly Manguel's own library. A charming and erudite writer, Manguel is no book snob. Detective fiction, poetry, history, fiction, non-fiction all have a place in his book room. One of my favourite chapters was about organizing libraries - do you organize them by language (Manguel reads in 5 or 6 languages)?, by country of origin?, alphabetically by author?, by category?, do you separate works by best friends because they don't write in the same category? These are weighty issues for anyone with more than a handful of books. I have a library and I have a lot of books, although not nearly as many as Manguel, so I was interested in his response to the ever popular question "Have you actually read all of these books?". His simple reply is "Well, I've certainly opened them all".
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