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Susan Orlean

Goodreads Author

Born

in Cleveland, OH (CLE), The United States

October 31

Website

http://www.susanorlean.com/

Twitter

susanorlean

Member Since

March 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/susanorlean

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I'm the product of a happy and uneventful childhood in the suburbs of Cleveland, followed by a happy and pretty eventful four years as a student at University of Michigan. From there, I wandered to the West Coast, landing in Portland, Oregon, where I managed (somehow) to get a job as a writer. This had been my dream, of course, but I had no experience and no credentials. What I did have, in spades, was an abiding passion for storytelling and sentence-making. I fell in love with the experience of writing, and I've never stopped. From Portland, I moved to Boston, where I wrote for the Phoenix and the Globe, and then to New York, where I began writing for magazines, and, in 1987, published my first piece in The New Yorker. I've been a staff wr ...more

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Susan Orlean's Blog

The Making of ��Adaptation��

When your quirky book becomes a quirkier movie.

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Published on October 11, 2025 03:00

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Susan Orlean’s books

Average rating: 3.83 · 162,941 ratings · 24,767 reviews · 43 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Library Book 3.88 avg rating — 122,369 ratings — published 2018 — 39 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Orchid Thief 3.66 avg rating — 21,508 ratings — published 1998 — 75 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On Animals 3.83 avg rating — 5,855 ratings — published 2021 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend 3.54 avg rating — 4,960 ratings — published 2011 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters With Extraordinary People 3.80 avg rating — 1,468 ratings — published 2001 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere 3.57 avg rating — 858 ratings — published 2004 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	You Are Ready For Takeoff: A Short Trip 3.63 avg rating — 522 ratings — published 2021 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Saturday Night 3.61 avg rating — 464 ratings — published 1990 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Best American Essays 2005 by Susan Orlean (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Robert Atwan (Series Editor) 4.03 avg rating — 320 ratings — published 2005 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Best American Travel Writing 2007 by Susan Orlean (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Jason Wilson (Goodreads Author) (Series Editor) 3.83 avg rating — 334 ratings — published 2007 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Is Everyone Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (Multicultural Education Series)

by Özlem Sensoy

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Jun 18, 2019 08:48AM

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UnSouled (Unwind, #3)

by Neal Shusterman (Goodreads Author)

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Oct 05, 2018 08:43PM

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Washington Black

by Esi Edugyan

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Sep 25, 2018 09:49PM

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Susan’s Recent Updates

Susan Orlean wrote a new blog post The Making of ��Adaptation�� When your quirky book becomes a quirkier movie.
Oct 12, 2025 12:16AM · 2 likes · like
Susan Orlean and 1 other person liked Beth's review of Joyride: A Memoir: "I could not have loved this more-I was extremely interested in every story she told. I anticipate a revival of interest in her work once this comes out. I was also hoping she would include the drunken night on Twitter during covid and she did. Long l" Read more of this review »
Oct 04, 2025 12:41PM · see review

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Quotes by Susan Orlean (?)

“In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library has burned. When I first heard the phrase, I didn’t understand it, but over time I came to realize it was perfect. Our minds and souls contain volumes inscribed by our experiences and emotions; each individual’s consciousness is a collection of memories we’ve cataloged and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived.”
― Susan Orlean, The Library Book

169 likes

“The library is a gathering pool of narratives and of the people who come to find them. It is where we can glimpse immortality; in the library, we can live forever.”
― Susan Orlean, The Library Book

124 likes

“The world is so huge that people are always getting lost in it. There are too many ideas and things and people too many directions to go. I was starting to believe that the reason it matters to care passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size. It makes the world seem not huge and empty but full of possibility.”
― Susan Orlean , The Orchid Thief

101 likes

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Polls

May 2019 True Crime Poll

We ask that you only vote if you are planning on participating in our discussion should your choice win.

Which True Crime book would you like to read in May?

The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession by Susan Orlean

12 votes, 28.6%

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

11 votes, 26.2%

All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein

7 votes, 16.7%

American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin

6 votes, 14.3%

Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss
(Note: If selected this will be a two month read).

6 votes, 14.3%

42 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Seasonal Read...: * Readerboard - Winter Challenge 2010-2011	6	498	Feb 14, 2011 05:24PM
The Seasonal Read...: Winter Challenge 2010-2011 Completed Tasks (do not delete any posts)	2578	1102	Feb 28, 2011 09:05PM
flight paths: Week of Aug. 14-20	11	5	Aug 18, 2011 10:25AM
The Life of a Boo...: EllieNYC 200 Books to Love!	389	300	Dec 29, 2011 12:43PM
You'll love this ...: Kimberly's Reporting Thread	15	67	Jan 03, 2012 07:45AM
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2012: Completed Tasks -DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC	2297	777	May 31, 2012 09:02PM

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