Customer Reviews

In the Stacks

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This compilation of short stories about libraries and/or librarians presents a mixed bag of the good, bad, and the ugly. A collection of stories about the profession is certainly past due. I agree with editorial comments that some of the stories penned by Bradbury, Borges, Boucher, and Brooks are true gems. The Koger story presented the entrapment of a person in a no advancement position; the Calvino and the LeGuin stories reminded me of good ol book burnin days; the Dabrowska story showed the advancement of ineptitude; the Kaufmann story reminded me of a Harlequin novel. I guess a collection of short stories cannot please everybody.

How about a collection of short stories that is bound to make you shelf conscious? An anthology that will make you willing to work between covers? A set that makes you read the write stuff?

In "In the Stacks: Short Stories About Libraries and Librarians," the editors of this collection
have made esoteric collections an art! If you thought that libraries were stuffy and uninteresting, wait until you turn the pages of these stories.

Such library luminaries as Jorge Luis Borges, Ray Bradbury, John Cheever, and Alice Munro grace these pages, delicately at times and at others with the sound and fury of a Faulkner. Yes, library sterotypes are in evidence, but don't be misled. All the stories are written by 20th century authors and explore more sides of the setting than one could imagine-all proving that a library is more than just a collection of books!

My favorite is Borges's "The Library of Babel" but John Cheever's "Trouble of Marcie Flint" is a close second. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)