| Hours & Information | Locations | Departments | Friends of the Library | Foundation |
|
|
San Bernardino Public Library 555 West 6th Street 909.381.8201 | ||||
|
|
Catalogs at Other CA Libraries Children's Events Teen Events San Bernardino Pioneers Historical Treasures of San Bernardino Magazine, Health Articles Civil Service Tests Databases Typing Practice and Computer Skills Virtual Library Policies and Rules |
Living Section of the San Bernardino SUN January 28, 2007 
Literacy and Longing In L.A. Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack 
Bibliomania - books as therapy In addition to air, water, food and shelter, most people have one or two other things without which they can't live. Some can't live without love, others without chocolate and yet others without botox. Thomas Jefferson could not live without books. For him, they were nourishment. Without books his soul and that incredible intellect of his most certainly would have shriveled up and died. And so with Dora (named after Eudora Welty), the heroine of best-seller "Literacy and Longing in L.A." by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack. When they were children, Dora and her sister Virginia (named after Virginia Woolf) were taken by their mother on literary pilgrimages to literary shrines and the museum homes of famous writers. Whereas Virginia has succeeded in moving off the pages of books into mainstream life, those literary pilgrimages still keep Dora riveted to books. A book junkie, she goes on reading binges for days and weeks, staying sequestered from Home Unavailable immersed in her books. Dora is a heroine, not just a protagonist, because in a world swarming with managers, careerists and worshipers of shallow beauty, she is that rare individual who dares to be different. "I collect new books," she tells us, "the way my girlfriends buy designer handbags. I just like to know I have them and actually reading them is beside the point." But she does read them. They are, after all, her only friends. "Books teach you how other people think, and what they're feeling, and how they change from ordinary beings to extraordinary ones," she muses. We meet Dora perhaps at the lowest point in her life. She has left her brilliant second husband because their lives have taken divergent paths: hers, toward more reading binges; his, toward moneyed, if workaholic, corporate life. Dora reads for therapy. She searches through her books for something that would resonate with her own life and help her cope with reality. Floundering and groping for answers to vague questions, she makes efforts to resume work as a journalist and thinks wistfully of the past when her husband shared her passion for books. Dora lives in L.A. in an impossibly expensive apartment on the quickly dwindling trust fund left to her by her father. The California freeways terrify her, the ridiculously over the top fundraisers bore her. She finds sanctuary in the neighborhood's small, privately owned bookstore. Also there she finds something akin to love. Fred, one of the bookstore's self-styled literati, slays her not only with his knowledge of literature and verbatim quotes perfect for every occasion but also as a lover. She is seduced by his awesome literary knowledge, his witticism, his animal magnetism and even by his caustic and snobby criticism of some of Dora's favorite writers. For a long time now Fred has been writing a play that he won't let Dora read. There are faint signs of warning and cords of disagreement in the relationship but Dora chooses not to heed them. Then she meets Fred's family and witnesses his sister's death from a drug overdose. Fred's callous attitude towards the plight of his mother and niece shocks Dora. It appears he hadn't learned a thing from all those books from which he frequently quotes tender passages to Dora. His attitude extinguishes the glow of Dora's books and replaces it with rage at the books for failing her. But in the end, Dora and her books triumph. "Literacy and Longing in L.A." is great fun to read. It also turns green with envy those of us who yearn for the opportunity to indulge in reading bingers. Occasionally however, I could sense that the novel has two co-authors. I could feel the story moving in different directions - a bit schizophrenic, not being able to make up its mind which way to go. Ophelia Georgiev Roop Library Director San Bernardino Public Library |
| ©2008 SBPL.org | Book Reviews · Art Gallery · FAQ · Board of Trustees · Library News · City Website |