In The Stacks: Short Stories About Libraries And Librarians (Hardcover)

by Michael Cart (Introduction) "ONE DAY, IN THE ILLUSTRIOUS NATION OF PANDURIA, A SUSPICION CREPT into the minds of top officials: that books contained opinions hostile to military prestige..." (more)
Key Phrases: toy broom, control cards, Miss Lucy, Miss Vincent, Nick Noble (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Contributions from such major figures as Borges, Cheever, Alice Munro and Ray Bradbury carry the day in In the Stacks: Short Stories about Libraries and Librarians, assembled by former librarian Michael Cart (My Father's Scar). Borges's well-known "The Library of Babel" is the best of the bunch, with its thought-provoking musings on the possibilities of an "infinite" library. Cheever chips in with a noteworthy contribution in "The Trouble of Marcie Flint," a typical exploration of infidelity and the dark side of suburbia. A handful of the remaining stories are pedantic, underdeveloped or ill-conceived, but there's more than enough wheat among the chaff to make this an intriguing collection.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 268 pages
• Publisher: Diane Pub Co (April 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756777402
• ISBN-13: 978-0756777401
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,258,190 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #29 in

  Books > Teens > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Cart, Michael

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Library Book, November 15, 2007

By	Paul Charlton (Fork Union, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

An excellent and varied collection of short stories with the central theme of libraries. Styles range from `serious' literature to entertaining story telling. Many authors use the library as a symbol for civilization and enlightenment which I find hopeful and thought provoking. Makes for enjoyable reading while reflecting on libraries which are not only repositories of knowledge, but very interesting places with their own unique character.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cruising the Stacks, May 17, 2002

By	Carlyle Mallory (Chesapeake, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: In the Stacks (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Working under covers!, October 9, 2004

By	Billy J. Hobbs "billhobbs" (Tyler, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: In the Stacks (Hardcover)

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. ([e-mail])