Title: The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
Book beginning, Chapter 1:
I was doing poverty math the day my life fell apart.
2nd snippet, 52% of preview:
Fantasy. That is where I have always wanted to live, since I first crawled between the pages of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at age eight.
Summary: Welcome to the Astral Library where books are not just things but portals to a new world and a sanctuary from the old one. The day Alix Watson's life falls apart she finds herself in the Boston Public Library when she passes through a door into another realm, The Astral Library. When she learns that she can enter one of her favorite books and escape her horrible life, she is ready to go. But suddenly the Astral Library Board threatens to make a decision which will wreck this magical place.
My thoughts: I read this book knowing it was not historical fiction, what Kate Quinn has become famous for writing. But when I recently read several reviews of Goodreads, one would think that Quinn committed some crime by not sticking to her favored genre. Readers complained that the book, which is identified as fantasy, wasn't what they wanted or hoped for. Well I, for one, was delighted by the book. The idea of living inside a favorite book and using that existence as a sanctuary from the horrors of life on earth was a fun and compelling idea. Yet, Alix Watson never had the chance to live inside a book because of the increasing meddling by the Library Board. Eventually Alix assisted the Astral Librarian and the books themselves in righting the ship to save literature for future generations.
My favorite part of the book was how strongly it spoke to importance of libraries and to the practice of reading. Here are a few snippets from the book on these topics:
“What makes you think anyone can control stories? They take on a life of their own, once the author sets down the pen. Stories are not obedient. Even old well-loved favorites sometimes grow teeth.”
“A library is a sanctuary. It's one of the only places left where you can walk through the doors and draw breath and stay, without needing to buy something, without having to justify your presence.”
“And the smell. The book smell that was my favorite smell in the world, the smell that all libraries had, the smell that said home to me more than any home I'd ever actually had.”
Clearly Kate Quinn is a book lover and a staunch supporter of libraries. The recent book banning attempts all over the US in the past few years has alarmed her, as it should alarm all of us. This book is her paean to libraries and to books. It is beautiful, fun, silly, happy, sad, maddening, and hopeful. I liked it a lot.
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Welcome to a combined Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday56 with a new name Friday Book Snippets. I am co-hosting this weekly blogging event with Olivia at Bemused & Bookish. You can link up at either of our sites but be sure to still visit and comment on other participant's blogs to increase our community.
Directions: Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a) the book's opening and b) page 56 (or another page) from the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please.
Note: I always try to comment on everyone's blog post but I am still out of the country. Please don't think I've abandoned you. Come back! Thanks for sharing your snippets. I'll be around next week to visit for sure.
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