Synopses & Reviews
For most of us, librarians are the quiet people behind the desk, who, apart from the occasional shush,” vanish into the background. But in Quiet, Please, McSweeneys contributor Scott Douglas puts the quirky caretakers of our literature front and center. With a keen eye for the absurd and a Kesey-esque cast of characters (witness the librarian who is sure Thomas Pynchon is Julia Robertss latest flame), Douglas takes us where few readers have gone before. Punctuated by his own highly subjective research into library history-from Andrew Carnegies Gilded Age to todays Afghanistan-Douglas gives us a surprising (and sometimes hilarious) look at the lives which make up the social institution that is his library.
Review
“Interesting, irreverent, entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny…Give a copy to your favorite librarian.”—
Augusta Metro Spirit, 9/10/08“Douglas opens the book on the burgeoning sect of hipster librarians who are shattering the image of bun-wearing shushers of the past…Through a host of oddball characters and situations, Douglas shows how public libraries are alive and thriving amid the current technological boom…[It] show[s] that the public library is more than a storehouse for books; it is a stage where casts of characters roam.”—Charleston Post and Courier, 5/31/09
Review
“[A] cleverly written book…Scott Douglas brings us into the stacks.”—
Chicago Tribune, 5/10/08, Editor’s Choice“Scott Douglas is pretty cool for a librarian…His clear belief in the importance of libraries for communities gives the book heart.”—London Paper, 5/6/08
Synopsis
In this unexpectedly raucous and illuminating memoir set in a Southern California public library, Douglas gives a surprising--and sometimes hilarious--look at the lives that make up the social institution that is his library.
Synopsis
An unexpectedly raucous and illuminating memoir set in a Southern California public library
About the Author
Scott Douglas is a librarian at the Anaheim Public Library, a job he has been chronicling for the McSweeneys Web site since 2003.