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Synopsis
Here, in one volume, noted author and librarian Michael Cart has assembled a fascinating collection of twentieth century short fiction about libraries and librarians: from such classics as Borges's "The Library of Babel" and Isaac Babel's "The Public Library," to such contemporary gems as John Cheever's "Trouble of Marcie Flint" and Lorrie Moore's "Community Life." Love, lunacy, obsession, and the joy of reading come together in a collection that readers, booksellers, and librarians would agree is long overdue.
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Review
There are some readers who will take one look at In the Stacks: Short Stories About Libraries and Librarians and yawn, and there are some who will pounce upon it eagerly. For those of us who find libraries strangely romantic, Michael Cart's anthology captures the duality of a place both private and public, both hushed and wholly congenial. Unsurprisingly, many of the stories are devoted to the stereotypical librarian: frustrated, spinsterish, and fussy. In Lorrie Moore's contribution, "Community Life," protagonist Olena goes to graduate school for English literature but ends up a librarian, lonely and unable to connect. Alice Munro explodes the library myth a bit with "Hard-Luck Stories," in which a librarian admits that her work "'really is one of those refuge-professions.' Which didn't mean, she said, that all the people in it were scared and spiritless. Far from it. It was full of genuine oddities and many flamboyant and expansive personalities." In the Stacks drags the library into the light of day: Anthony Boucher sets a mystery among the books; Walter R. Brooks gives us a Mr. Ed story; and there's some Ray Bradbury weirdness. The collection rightly ends with the glorious "Library of Babel" by librarian-seer-fabulist Jorge Luis Borges. --Claire Dederer
About the Author
Michael Cart was for many years the director of the Beverly Hills Public Library. He is the author of many books, including Love and Sex, a collection of short stories for young adults, What's So Funny: Wit and Humor in American Children's Literature and From Romance to Realism: Fifty Years of Growth and Change in Young Adult Literature. A member of numerous professional associations and the recipient of many awards and prizes, he has been the children's book editor for Parents magazine and is a columnist for Booklist. He is currently at work on a biography of the beloved children's book author, Walter R. Brooks, creator of Freddy the Pig.
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- PublisherThe Overlook Press
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 1585672599
- ISBN 13 9781585672592
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages288
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