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The Library of Unrequited Love
One morning a librarian finds a reader who has been locked in overnight.
She starts to talk to him, a one-way conversation that soon gathers pace as an outpouring of frustrations, observations and anguishes. Two things shine through: her shy, unrequited passion for a quiet researcher named Martin, and an ardent and absolute love of books.
A delightful flight of fancy for the lonely bookworm in all of us…
She starts to talk to him, a one-way conversation that soon gathers pace as an outpouring of frustrations, observations and anguishes. Two things shine through: her shy, unrequited passion for a quiet researcher named Martin, and an ardent and absolute love of books.
A delightful flight of fancy for the lonely bookworm in all of us…
95 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
49 people are currently reading
3704 people want to read
About the author
Sophie Divry
12 books34 followersSophie Divry vit à Lyon. Journaliste engagée au mensuel La Décroissance, elle écrit également des chroniques littéraires pour le Monde Diplomatique. La cote 400 est son premier roman.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 554 reviews
November 28, 2018
This felt like a one-sided conversation between me and my (not so distant) future self. It's highly probable that I'm going to end up a spinster who will one day pour out all my frustrations on a youth who has no choice but to listen to me.
"The Library of Unrequieted Love" can be read in one sitting. It's a drawn-out monologue with no chapter breaks or even paragraph breaks. The unnamed librarian reveals herself fully in her speech. She can be a tiresome and rather pathetic woman in many ways -- but her intellectual liveliness and strong, if sometimes confused, opinions made me enjoy her company. There isn’t a dull page or even a dull sentence, and I felt like I have actually spent time with her.
The book is written with a beautifully assured touch. The translation is admirable as well --it reads like natural, often colloquial, English, while retaining a French flavor. It is both witty and humorous, and full of observations and opinions which invite you to think.
The parts I loved the most are: her passionate discussion of the Dewey Decimal System, and her love-hate relationship with books and her contempt for anything that is below the highest quality. For a short book, it's packed with goodness that library staff, library users, book lovers, and lovers of a good rant will find delightful!
"The Library of Unrequieted Love" can be read in one sitting. It's a drawn-out monologue with no chapter breaks or even paragraph breaks. The unnamed librarian reveals herself fully in her speech. She can be a tiresome and rather pathetic woman in many ways -- but her intellectual liveliness and strong, if sometimes confused, opinions made me enjoy her company. There isn’t a dull page or even a dull sentence, and I felt like I have actually spent time with her.
The book is written with a beautifully assured touch. The translation is admirable as well --it reads like natural, often colloquial, English, while retaining a French flavor. It is both witty and humorous, and full of observations and opinions which invite you to think.
The parts I loved the most are: her passionate discussion of the Dewey Decimal System, and her love-hate relationship with books and her contempt for anything that is below the highest quality. For a short book, it's packed with goodness that library staff, library users, book lovers, and lovers of a good rant will find delightful!
May 28, 2017
"Book and reader, if they meet up at the right moment in a person's life, it can make sparks fly, set you alight, change your life."
Ramblings of a middle-aged librarian about books, authors, and about a man she has a crush on. Many great one liners that cracked me up but also hit bull's eye with their simplicity.
Ramblings of a middle-aged librarian about books, authors, and about a man she has a crush on. Many great one liners that cracked me up but also hit bull's eye with their simplicity.
September 18, 2022
A library patron somehow falls asleep and stays overnight in the library to be awakened by the narrator of this novella: a lovesick librarian who decides to use her surprised audience as a sounding board for her thoughts on her job, myriad subjects of interest and - of course - the graduate student she’s secreting pining for.
Sophie Divry’s The Library of Unrequited Love is unusual in that it’s a book-length character monologue but, as easy to read as it is, there wasn’t enough to it for my taste.
Over the course of the book we learn about the Dewey Decimal Classification, French history (mostly the Revolution/Napoleon), library politics - both the people who frequent it and run it - Maupassant, and something of her personality too. She’s a tad snobbish about intelligence and sneers at the customers who come into the library only to rent DVDs, and you also get a sense of the despair she feels at her loveless lot in life and the professional choices she’s made, so Divry did alright to capture something of her character through her dialogue alone.
It’s relatively short and well-written, so you’ll fly through it, but I wanted there to be more to the story than what we got - after all that talk, I would’ve liked to have seen some action to follow it. But then that’s usually the case with people who talk a lot, isn’t it - that’s all they tend to do?
Ultimately too slight and unsatisfyingly insubstantial, The Library of Unrequited Love doesn’t quite scratch that literary itch of a good story.
Sophie Divry’s The Library of Unrequited Love is unusual in that it’s a book-length character monologue but, as easy to read as it is, there wasn’t enough to it for my taste.
Over the course of the book we learn about the Dewey Decimal Classification, French history (mostly the Revolution/Napoleon), library politics - both the people who frequent it and run it - Maupassant, and something of her personality too. She’s a tad snobbish about intelligence and sneers at the customers who come into the library only to rent DVDs, and you also get a sense of the despair she feels at her loveless lot in life and the professional choices she’s made, so Divry did alright to capture something of her character through her dialogue alone.
It’s relatively short and well-written, so you’ll fly through it, but I wanted there to be more to the story than what we got - after all that talk, I would’ve liked to have seen some action to follow it. But then that’s usually the case with people who talk a lot, isn’t it - that’s all they tend to do?
Ultimately too slight and unsatisfyingly insubstantial, The Library of Unrequited Love doesn’t quite scratch that literary itch of a good story.
February 11, 2013
Saturday was National Library Day. I went into the library, returned books, had a quick scan of the shelves, picked up by reservations, checked them out, and then left without seeing any sign of a librarian. The result of technology, budget cuts, and council departments being merged. And so it was particularly lovely to bring home a library book with a real life librarian inside.
untitled
The lady in question arrived for work in the basement to find a reader who had been locked in overnight. She was not impressed and so she gave him a piece of her mind. And then she gave him a cup of coffee too, because he would have to wait a while, until the library opened, to get out.
She lectures him about the library: the Dewey decimal system and its evolution, the lowly status of her beloved geography section, the politics of libraries, book acquisition policies, the irritating habits of library users … Yes, she moans, but she imparts so much knowledge, she clearly cares about the library, she clearly still believes in the traditional art of the librarian.
And she loves books:
“When I’m reading, I’m never alone, I have a conversation with the book. It can be very intimate. Perhaps you know this feeling yourself? The sense that you’re having an intellectual exchange with the author, following his or her train of thought and you can accompany each other for weeks on end.”
He words are conversational, but she doesn’t let her unexpected guest get a word in edgeways. Even so, his interjections and her responses to them make it clear that he is listening and that he is interested. She clearly recognises that and she relaxes, becomes more passionate more articulate.
There were times when I wanted to applaud, there were times when I wanted to protest, and I learned a good bit along the way.
She did go on a bit – ninety pages without a break – but I hung on to the very end without a break.
It helped that she revealed much of herself along the way. She was a quiet, rather old fashioned woman, who tried to do the right thing and wished that others did too. But they didn’t. The world had changed but she hadn’t.
I felt for her, I really did.
And I thought if only the traditionalists and the modernisers could meet halfway, how wonderful the library service could be.
She had an unrequited love for a researcher named Martin, and she had an even deeper passion for books and the arts. That was what sustained her, what kept her going.
I’ll be taking her back to the library next Saturday. I’m very pleased we met, but the parting won’t be painful.
I do hope though that she will meet many more readers, she meets a few librarians, and most of all that she meets some of the bureaucrats who make decisions about how libraries are funded and run.
I’d like them all hear what she has to say.
Translated by Sîan Reynold
untitled
The lady in question arrived for work in the basement to find a reader who had been locked in overnight. She was not impressed and so she gave him a piece of her mind. And then she gave him a cup of coffee too, because he would have to wait a while, until the library opened, to get out.
She lectures him about the library: the Dewey decimal system and its evolution, the lowly status of her beloved geography section, the politics of libraries, book acquisition policies, the irritating habits of library users … Yes, she moans, but she imparts so much knowledge, she clearly cares about the library, she clearly still believes in the traditional art of the librarian.
And she loves books:
“When I’m reading, I’m never alone, I have a conversation with the book. It can be very intimate. Perhaps you know this feeling yourself? The sense that you’re having an intellectual exchange with the author, following his or her train of thought and you can accompany each other for weeks on end.”
He words are conversational, but she doesn’t let her unexpected guest get a word in edgeways. Even so, his interjections and her responses to them make it clear that he is listening and that he is interested. She clearly recognises that and she relaxes, becomes more passionate more articulate.
There were times when I wanted to applaud, there were times when I wanted to protest, and I learned a good bit along the way.
She did go on a bit – ninety pages without a break – but I hung on to the very end without a break.
It helped that she revealed much of herself along the way. She was a quiet, rather old fashioned woman, who tried to do the right thing and wished that others did too. But they didn’t. The world had changed but she hadn’t.
I felt for her, I really did.
And I thought if only the traditionalists and the modernisers could meet halfway, how wonderful the library service could be.
She had an unrequited love for a researcher named Martin, and she had an even deeper passion for books and the arts. That was what sustained her, what kept her going.
I’ll be taking her back to the library next Saturday. I’m very pleased we met, but the parting won’t be painful.
I do hope though that she will meet many more readers, she meets a few librarians, and most of all that she meets some of the bureaucrats who make decisions about how libraries are funded and run.
I’d like them all hear what she has to say.
Translated by Sîan Reynold
May 2, 2013
"To all those men and woman who will always find a place for themselves in a library more easily than in society, I dedicate this entertainment."
From the moment I opened the book and read that one line, I knew this book was for me. I could not have put it in better words, Sophie Divry spoke to me directly with that dedication.
I was looking for a short, quick read to get me from one book to another. I had been reading a lot of heavy material lately, and I needed that little breather in between. So when I saw this book by Sophie Divry, and read the synopsis, I had to get it. And I'm glad I did.
I finished reading it in a little over an hour, as it is quite a short book, but also because it is a very gripping, brilliantly written monologue that you just cannot put the book down halfway through the narrator's (librarian's) rant - the rant goes on for about a 100 pages.
The story is basically about a librarian who works in the Geography section at the basement of the library. She walks in one day to find a poor soul sleeping there after being locked in the previous night. She takes that as an opportunity to pour out all her frustrations, disappointments, discontentment, but also her hopes, dreams and feelings. She vents to this stranger more than she's ever done before. And thus begins her incredible 100-page monologue. In just a few pages, Divry was able to make us feel for this woman and connect with her in unimaginable ways.
I found it a very captivating read. One that you could complete in one sitting. I definitely recommend it to any and all book lovers out there.
From the moment I opened the book and read that one line, I knew this book was for me. I could not have put it in better words, Sophie Divry spoke to me directly with that dedication.
I was looking for a short, quick read to get me from one book to another. I had been reading a lot of heavy material lately, and I needed that little breather in between. So when I saw this book by Sophie Divry, and read the synopsis, I had to get it. And I'm glad I did.
I finished reading it in a little over an hour, as it is quite a short book, but also because it is a very gripping, brilliantly written monologue that you just cannot put the book down halfway through the narrator's (librarian's) rant - the rant goes on for about a 100 pages.
The story is basically about a librarian who works in the Geography section at the basement of the library. She walks in one day to find a poor soul sleeping there after being locked in the previous night. She takes that as an opportunity to pour out all her frustrations, disappointments, discontentment, but also her hopes, dreams and feelings. She vents to this stranger more than she's ever done before. And thus begins her incredible 100-page monologue. In just a few pages, Divry was able to make us feel for this woman and connect with her in unimaginable ways.
I found it a very captivating read. One that you could complete in one sitting. I definitely recommend it to any and all book lovers out there.
February 26, 2013
It was an ok book, just that. Sometimes I found myself nodding to some parts of these ramblings of an old French librarian, but more often than not, I just wished she would shut up. I am especially disappointed that the author chose to focus on the old stereotype of librarians (did she do her hair up in a bun? I bet she did) instead of showing what libraries and librarians are all about right now. Oh well...
June 1, 2014
There are some books that I instantly love - some books that I instantly hate (I never really finish those, bad habit alert) and then there are books like The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry. Is it a bad book? Not really. Is it a good book? Not really.
It’s short and easy to read and “meh”.
The story is just a monologue from a female librarian talking to an unknown man who spend the night in the library. I think it’s always impressive when someone creates a whole book (fine, 80 pages, but it’s still a book!) with just a monologue. No real action, no movement, just someone’s inner thoughts.
But I have to wonder - why is the female librarian, who’s biggest fault is that she’s slightly socially awkward, chosen as the main character when there is a man/boy/guy/whatever who spend the night in a closed library? What was he doing there? Is he homeless? Or did he just fall asleep? Usually I write long reviews, but this book is so short that I don’t really have much to say. There are a lot of good quotes in the book, which is a good thing, but also became kind of annoying. Who talks in perfect quotes when you are just rambling?
Do you want an insight into a French librarian with failed dreams? Then buy this book. Do you want a quick read to finish your Goodreads challenge? Then buy this book. Do you want a great writing prompt for the male character? DEFINITELY buy this book then. Otherwise, don’t bother.
It’s short and easy to read and “meh”.
The story is just a monologue from a female librarian talking to an unknown man who spend the night in the library. I think it’s always impressive when someone creates a whole book (fine, 80 pages, but it’s still a book!) with just a monologue. No real action, no movement, just someone’s inner thoughts.
But I have to wonder - why is the female librarian, who’s biggest fault is that she’s slightly socially awkward, chosen as the main character when there is a man/boy/guy/whatever who spend the night in a closed library? What was he doing there? Is he homeless? Or did he just fall asleep? Usually I write long reviews, but this book is so short that I don’t really have much to say. There are a lot of good quotes in the book, which is a good thing, but also became kind of annoying. Who talks in perfect quotes when you are just rambling?
Do you want an insight into a French librarian with failed dreams? Then buy this book. Do you want a quick read to finish your Goodreads challenge? Then buy this book. Do you want a great writing prompt for the male character? DEFINITELY buy this book then. Otherwise, don’t bother.
October 24, 2016
Lots of great one-liners about the value of books, but overall a rather aimless little literary experiment and not particularly well translated. As a former library assistant myself, I could certainly sympathize with this bitter librarian’s disappointment with the state of libraries today: “It’s not a library anymore, with silence reigning over shelves full of intelligence, it’s a leisure centre where people come to amuse themselves.”
[The original French title was La Cote 400, referring to a former Dewey shelfmark.]
More good lines:
“To know your way round a library is to master the whole of culture, i.e. the whole world.”
“You’re never alone if you live surrounded by books.”
“When I’m reading, I’m never alone, I have a conversation with the book.”
“No pity for bad books. When in doubt, chuck it out, that’s my motto.”
“Book and reader, if they meet up at the right moment in a person’s life, it can make sparks fly, set you alight, change your life.”
[The original French title was La Cote 400, referring to a former Dewey shelfmark.]
More good lines:
“To know your way round a library is to master the whole of culture, i.e. the whole world.”
“You’re never alone if you live surrounded by books.”
“When I’m reading, I’m never alone, I have a conversation with the book.”
“No pity for bad books. When in doubt, chuck it out, that’s my motto.”
“Book and reader, if they meet up at the right moment in a person’s life, it can make sparks fly, set you alight, change your life.”
May 26, 2017
Loved this precious monologue...
The rantings of a middle aged female librarian , purportedly to a reader who gets locked within the library in the night, and subsequently discovered by her when she comes for work.
it was funny, scathing, satirical...
I loved looking at the world through the cynical eyes of a librarian who has seen, nay, read it all.
Her soliloquy covers various subjects including Dewey system of classification, various existentialist writers, and mundane subjects like ordinary people and their lives, and over all.... her growing obsession with Martin, a studious reader who frequents the library.
Read it at a stretch, and enjoyed every minute.
Will read it again sometime in future.
The rantings of a middle aged female librarian , purportedly to a reader who gets locked within the library in the night, and subsequently discovered by her when she comes for work.
it was funny, scathing, satirical...
I loved looking at the world through the cynical eyes of a librarian who has seen, nay, read it all.
Her soliloquy covers various subjects including Dewey system of classification, various existentialist writers, and mundane subjects like ordinary people and their lives, and over all.... her growing obsession with Martin, a studious reader who frequents the library.
Read it at a stretch, and enjoyed every minute.
Will read it again sometime in future.
January 10, 2020
This little book is a sweet soliloquy by a librarian woman as she converses with a man who accidentally spent the night in the library. If nothing else, the idea of the book intrigues me and I have to admit that I currently feel inspired to attempt something similar. I love the style of it. It's so different. I made a couple of notes for how I would do mine and I do love my idea already. Let's see if I actually complete it!
April 11, 2015
I laughed as I highlighted so many lines. I really enjoyed this little read. I will definitely read it again.
June 21, 2018
What do you do if you love going to Library, and the first page of a book reads "To all those men and women who will always find a place for themselves in a library more easily than in society, I dedicate this entertainment". You know this entertainment is definitely for you and you then devour pages after pages because all these pages are just screaming to you in a passion only you, a fellow library lover will understand.
The Library of Unrequited love is brilliant in so many ways. There is only chapter. No paragraphs. Only told by one person. The views of Literature and library are brilliant. And its such a gorgeous escape if you have been reading a lot of fat, deep and intelligent books for a long time.
This book is just a non-stop narrative of a librarian talking to a person who was trapped in the library in the night. As the book progresses, we get to know about the life of that librarian, her love life, her losses, her expectations, her unrequited love for a reader who visits the place and never talks to her. Her views on books, life, travelling. And its just 96 pages. I think the best thing about this book is that it never appears drag and it only makes sense that this book has no paragraphs. And I am sure, if you love literature you can finish this book in one go. In just a couple of hours.
Read this book if you love reading, love books, love writers, love library or if you love all of them. A beautiful insight into this wonderful world which obviously can't be bad at all.
The Library of Unrequited love is brilliant in so many ways. There is only chapter. No paragraphs. Only told by one person. The views of Literature and library are brilliant. And its such a gorgeous escape if you have been reading a lot of fat, deep and intelligent books for a long time.
This book is just a non-stop narrative of a librarian talking to a person who was trapped in the library in the night. As the book progresses, we get to know about the life of that librarian, her love life, her losses, her expectations, her unrequited love for a reader who visits the place and never talks to her. Her views on books, life, travelling. And its just 96 pages. I think the best thing about this book is that it never appears drag and it only makes sense that this book has no paragraphs. And I am sure, if you love literature you can finish this book in one go. In just a couple of hours.
Read this book if you love reading, love books, love writers, love library or if you love all of them. A beautiful insight into this wonderful world which obviously can't be bad at all.
August 9, 2016
Ok what did I just read? I thought this was book was going to be a nice and well written book about the library as an institution. What I got instead was the rambling of a woman who is not satisfied at her job and/or her life, its hard to follow the core of the story, its just one person talking the whole book, no breaks, no chapters, no meaning.... Wow I just dotn know what to think about this. It made me feel kind of depressed since I do happen to work at a library, but then I realized that the fault in that lies in the author not in the reader... It was a bad written book.
October 29, 2016
Pretty intriguing & delightful monologue.
I'm torn between 3 & 4 stars and finally end up with 3 but actually it's 3.45.
From the book,
"Going into the library is nothing more or less than getting back onto your your mummy's lap. Yes, like mummy, the library gives you a magic kiss and everything's better. Love life in ruins? Hate everyone? Despair over the state of planet? Headache? Insomnia? Indigestion? Corns? I can tell you, there's nothing the library can't cure".
"l have a conversation with a book. It can be very intimate. Perhaps you know this feeling yourself? The sense that you're having an intellectual exchange with the author, following his or her train of thought and you can accompany each other for weeks on end".
I'm torn between 3 & 4 stars and finally end up with 3 but actually it's 3.45.
From the book,
"Going into the library is nothing more or less than getting back onto your your mummy's lap. Yes, like mummy, the library gives you a magic kiss and everything's better. Love life in ruins? Hate everyone? Despair over the state of planet? Headache? Insomnia? Indigestion? Corns? I can tell you, there's nothing the library can't cure".
"l have a conversation with a book. It can be very intimate. Perhaps you know this feeling yourself? The sense that you're having an intellectual exchange with the author, following his or her train of thought and you can accompany each other for weeks on end".
August 9, 2016
Things you need to know about this book:It's a monologue.It takes place in a library's basement.It is honest and it has so much loneliness!It is small and adorable.I liked it :)
I bought it because I loved the cover and the title,I didn't have a clue about the story.Yes,sometimes I do judge a book by its cover and it's not bad at all!
I bought it because I loved the cover and the title,I didn't have a clue about the story.Yes,sometimes I do judge a book by its cover and it's not bad at all!
May 27, 2017
3.5
A short and sweet book having continuous one sided ramblings of a librarian. Written in a very funny tone, laughed my heart out more than a couple of times.
Thank you so much God! My dreams of becoming a librarian never materialised :D
A short and sweet book having continuous one sided ramblings of a librarian. Written in a very funny tone, laughed my heart out more than a couple of times.
Thank you so much God! My dreams of becoming a librarian never materialised :D
May 28, 2017
Loved the ramblings of the librarian. And my lifelong wish to become a librarian has taken a backseat for now.
June 25, 2015
I did not like this book one bit, so I’m going to be ranting. You can ignore me if you choose.
Here goes: I hated the main character. And since she's the narrator (and only speaker) for 93 pages, that made this book really tough to finish. The main character is a stereotypical librarian, the ones you see in every movie and TV show in the past 50 years. Single, older, alone, timid, obsessive about order and quiet, and unable to speak to men. Le sigh. As a millennial writing in the 21st century, the author should have known better. Apparently, she has never personally met any librarians. Let’s start with this gem:
“Being a librarian isn’t an especially high-level job, I can tell you. Pretty close to being in a factory. I’m a cultural assembly line worker. So what you need to know is, to be a librarian, you have to like the idea of classification, and to be of a docile nature. No initiative, no room for the unexpected…”
At first, I thought this must be satirical in some way, but as we continue through the book, we find out that is exactly how this miserable woman has lived her entire life. She is bitter, arrogant, and pretentious; a lover of “culture” and books, but negative towards her job, the role of libraries in the digital age, and her patrons. I pitied her, as I hope the author intended, for she seems stuck in a rut of her own making, unable to take initiative in work or in her love life. Yet she spends most of the book ranting about other people and explaining why she is better and smarter than the masses. The other difficult thing about this book is that it’s so contradictory. She has a beautiful monologue about the necessity of libraries for humanity but then she turns into “typical-old-lady-librarian” and complains about people checking out DVDs instead of “cultured” books or the onslaught of “bestsellers” which obviously spell humanity’s doom. (I may have paraphrased here, but you get the idea.) Worst of all, she complains about the library’s new role as community centers rather than book coffins, arguing that libraries are intended to promote culture, not pleasure. Ugh. While I've entertained the idea that Divry was trying to make some sort of statement but really, she didn't have to perpetuate the stereotype of the mean and rude librarian. It has been hailed a "delightful" read for book-lovers. I didn't get that at all.
Here goes: I hated the main character. And since she's the narrator (and only speaker) for 93 pages, that made this book really tough to finish. The main character is a stereotypical librarian, the ones you see in every movie and TV show in the past 50 years. Single, older, alone, timid, obsessive about order and quiet, and unable to speak to men. Le sigh. As a millennial writing in the 21st century, the author should have known better. Apparently, she has never personally met any librarians. Let’s start with this gem:
“Being a librarian isn’t an especially high-level job, I can tell you. Pretty close to being in a factory. I’m a cultural assembly line worker. So what you need to know is, to be a librarian, you have to like the idea of classification, and to be of a docile nature. No initiative, no room for the unexpected…”
At first, I thought this must be satirical in some way, but as we continue through the book, we find out that is exactly how this miserable woman has lived her entire life. She is bitter, arrogant, and pretentious; a lover of “culture” and books, but negative towards her job, the role of libraries in the digital age, and her patrons. I pitied her, as I hope the author intended, for she seems stuck in a rut of her own making, unable to take initiative in work or in her love life. Yet she spends most of the book ranting about other people and explaining why she is better and smarter than the masses. The other difficult thing about this book is that it’s so contradictory. She has a beautiful monologue about the necessity of libraries for humanity but then she turns into “typical-old-lady-librarian” and complains about people checking out DVDs instead of “cultured” books or the onslaught of “bestsellers” which obviously spell humanity’s doom. (I may have paraphrased here, but you get the idea.) Worst of all, she complains about the library’s new role as community centers rather than book coffins, arguing that libraries are intended to promote culture, not pleasure. Ugh. While I've entertained the idea that Divry was trying to make some sort of statement but really, she didn't have to perpetuate the stereotype of the mean and rude librarian. It has been hailed a "delightful" read for book-lovers. I didn't get that at all.
July 17, 2024
The Library of Unrequited Love is a short novella about a librarian who has given it all up for her library. It's a silly little story, a cautionary tale, perhaps, but a little story that no one who is a librarian should miss....You will be able to identify.
January 3, 2016
Well that was quite the rant! I don't think I'll ever look at a middle aged librarian in quite the same way ever again. A fun, short read.
March 6, 2018
I found that it was not really the best of ideas to begin reading The Library of Unrequited Love just before I went to sleep, because it is a continual stream-of-consciousness work, which has been written in just one paragraph. This rendered it difficult to know where to stop reading. Everything which I love about contemporary French literature can be found in this slim volume; it is witty, shrewd, clever, slightly sarcastic, and intensely readable. The unnamed librarian’s narrative voice is captivating, and the novella is so interesting in terms of the social and political history in France, and the musings upon the Dewey Decimal System. The Library of Unrequited Love is very quirky, and is a treat for bookish people and library goers alike. I for one cannot wait to see what Sophie Divry comes up with next.
September 7, 2022
me ha gustado mucho, pero me hubiera gustado más si la prota no formase parte de la sección de historia, me fliparia que estuviera en lite y todas las referencias que hace las hiciera sobre rusos, franceses e italianos clasiquísimos
May 27, 2017
A very intelligent, very witty rant of a frustrated librarian. A superb mix of hilarious and touching, with just a little dose of crazy. A delightful read.
June 7, 2017
Monologous ramblings of a librarian on various aspects of her life... Many of the quotes were eye-catching, but it was too long and tiring for me...!!
August 15, 2018
Something different, but not terribly gratifying, ... I thought the premise had plenty of potential, but, for this reader, it went largely unfulfilled.
(Admittedly, the book caught my eye ... in the library, and I decided to give it a chance because ... no deep dark secret here ... but I remember (once, just once) being locked in the University library after closing hours. In a rare moment of concentrated/absorbed study, I missed the closing announcements, and, well, when I finally got up from my basement library carrel, my mistake became obvious.) Alas, that experience in no way made this book more entertaining....
Published as a very short (slender? slight?) book, it's much more of a novella, if not a bagatelle. And, be forewarned, it's a straight, stream-of-conscious, rambling monologue, structured as a single expulsion (or data dump), even to the point of being written - entirely - as a single paragraph.
If you were hoping for the something along the lines of 84 Charing Cross or The Storied Life of AJ Fikrey, keep looking, because this isn't that book. And I know, I know, this is about a library, not a bookstore, but (I'm guessing) you get the point....
Final musing: lest this ambivalent review suggest otherwise, I'm not only open, but sympathetic, to the career librarian's lament. I grew up with/in rural/community/military base libraries (and bookmobiles!, you either remember them or you don't), I've prowled the halls (and, way back when, when it was still permitted, the stacks) of the Library of Congress, I've always felt comfortable in libraries, and I remain a somewhat regular public library patron. Nonetheless, the book didn't really speak to me....
(Admittedly, the book caught my eye ... in the library, and I decided to give it a chance because ... no deep dark secret here ... but I remember (once, just once) being locked in the University library after closing hours. In a rare moment of concentrated/absorbed study, I missed the closing announcements, and, well, when I finally got up from my basement library carrel, my mistake became obvious.) Alas, that experience in no way made this book more entertaining....
Published as a very short (slender? slight?) book, it's much more of a novella, if not a bagatelle. And, be forewarned, it's a straight, stream-of-conscious, rambling monologue, structured as a single expulsion (or data dump), even to the point of being written - entirely - as a single paragraph.
If you were hoping for the something along the lines of 84 Charing Cross or The Storied Life of AJ Fikrey, keep looking, because this isn't that book. And I know, I know, this is about a library, not a bookstore, but (I'm guessing) you get the point....
Final musing: lest this ambivalent review suggest otherwise, I'm not only open, but sympathetic, to the career librarian's lament. I grew up with/in rural/community/military base libraries (and bookmobiles!, you either remember them or you don't), I've prowled the halls (and, way back when, when it was still permitted, the stacks) of the Library of Congress, I've always felt comfortable in libraries, and I remain a somewhat regular public library patron. Nonetheless, the book didn't really speak to me....
March 20, 2022
Probablemente mi opinión esta sesgada dado que 1. soy bibliotecaria, 2. de repente su monologo de daba mucha risa y, 3. sentí que leía a Lorelai Gilmore sí ella se hubiese dedicado a la biblioteconomía en vez de la hostelería
En sí el libro es corto, tiene poca profundidad en cuestión de personaje pero toca temas relevantes en el ámbito de la literatura, al menos en lo que a bibliotecología se refiere XD: La importancia del CDD, la jerarquización del personal de biblioteca, el poco énfasis que se hace en promover la lectura, el desencanto del personal que lleva muchos años, la predominancia de la mediateca sobre la biblioteca, el olvido del estado, la mala planeación arquitectónica...
En fin, probablemente no sea el cup of tea de todos, de hecho no creo que merezca las 4 estrellas, pero a mi me gusta leer acerca de bibliotecas, lectura y el aspecto social de estas. (Psss, respecto a estos temas, probablemente Como una novela sea una lectura más entretenida y que profundiza muchísimo más en la mayoría de los tópicos que se tocan aquí...excepto en lo Dewey)
Ahora, lo que no me gusto fue lo referente al chico/señor que le atraía...muy idealizado y un poco acosador IMO, la autora se lo pudo haber ahorrado.
En sí el libro es corto, tiene poca profundidad en cuestión de personaje pero toca temas relevantes en el ámbito de la literatura, al menos en lo que a bibliotecología se refiere XD: La importancia del CDD, la jerarquización del personal de biblioteca, el poco énfasis que se hace en promover la lectura, el desencanto del personal que lleva muchos años, la predominancia de la mediateca sobre la biblioteca, el olvido del estado, la mala planeación arquitectónica...
En fin, probablemente no sea el cup of tea de todos, de hecho no creo que merezca las 4 estrellas, pero a mi me gusta leer acerca de bibliotecas, lectura y el aspecto social de estas. (Psss, respecto a estos temas, probablemente Como una novela sea una lectura más entretenida y que profundiza muchísimo más en la mayoría de los tópicos que se tocan aquí...excepto en lo Dewey)
Ahora, lo que no me gusto fue lo referente al chico/señor que le atraía...muy idealizado y un poco acosador IMO, la autora se lo pudo haber ahorrado.
May 26, 2017
1.5-star Review:
The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry
Think of a word. Then, randomly, think of a person who you have a secret crush on. Now think that the word and that crush exist within a realm called "The Library". Got the context? You're good to go down a vociferous path of mumbo-jumbo, then.
Now, speak (read rant) elaborately on the word you thought of. Exaggerate the prose with ad hoc abuses toward your job of twenty-five years and the people you interact with on the job. Then, contrast the abuses with novel technicalities of your job by way of proffering literary definitions. Disjointly insert salient features of the said crush that you enjoy sneaking a peek atall the time. Contradict yourself every two seconds. Top the cake with miscellaneous world history & Literature. Bravo, you have a 90-odd page novel.
Apart from the writing which is marginally satisfactory at times, it is a very torpid read. Recommended to those who are bored and crave an extremely short read.
(Source)
The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry
Think of a word. Then, randomly, think of a person who you have a secret crush on. Now think that the word and that crush exist within a realm called "The Library". Got the context? You're good to go down a vociferous path of mumbo-jumbo, then.
Now, speak (read rant) elaborately on the word you thought of. Exaggerate the prose with ad hoc abuses toward your job of twenty-five years and the people you interact with on the job. Then, contrast the abuses with novel technicalities of your job by way of proffering literary definitions. Disjointly insert salient features of the said crush that you enjoy sneaking a peek at
Apart from the writing which is marginally satisfactory at times, it is a very torpid read. Recommended to those who are bored and crave an extremely short read.
(Source)
May 17, 2020
Este es un monólogo de una bibliotecaria un poco amargada, neurótica y solitaria. El libro es tolerable porque es muy corto, pero fue una lástima que yo no lograra conectarme con este personaje cuya pasión por los libros es lo que la ayuda a sobrevivir a sus crisis (y de esto no me cabe la menor duda).
Para ella, los únicos autores que valen la pena son los clásicos (y ni siquiera todos porque compara a Balzac con un señor que escribe libros como haciendo churros), destroza los best sellers y no tolera los libros comerciales.
Hombre...ella tiene razón en algunas cosas, pero creo que esta posición tan cerrada y común entre los académicos y personas que comparten este pensamiento y que casi siempre trabajan en el sector cultural, ha alejado a mucha gente de la lectura, mientras algunos libros comerciales y de autores jóvenes han servido para conquistar nuevos lectores que con el tiempo terminan valorando los clásicos o libros más "importantes".
En este libro aprendí que Melvil Dewey fue el que e inventó el sistema de catalogación que se usa en las bibliotecas, que gracias Eugène Morel tenemos bibliotecas con espacios cómodos para la lectura, dedicados a los niños, servicio de préstamo y actualización de las colecciones, que Guy de Maupassant escribió 290 relatos y 7 novelas en 10 años, entre otros daticos que me parecieron interesantes.
Para ella, los únicos autores que valen la pena son los clásicos (y ni siquiera todos porque compara a Balzac con un señor que escribe libros como haciendo churros), destroza los best sellers y no tolera los libros comerciales.
Hombre...ella tiene razón en algunas cosas, pero creo que esta posición tan cerrada y común entre los académicos y personas que comparten este pensamiento y que casi siempre trabajan en el sector cultural, ha alejado a mucha gente de la lectura, mientras algunos libros comerciales y de autores jóvenes han servido para conquistar nuevos lectores que con el tiempo terminan valorando los clásicos o libros más "importantes".
En este libro aprendí que Melvil Dewey fue el que e inventó el sistema de catalogación que se usa en las bibliotecas, que gracias Eugène Morel tenemos bibliotecas con espacios cómodos para la lectura, dedicados a los niños, servicio de préstamo y actualización de las colecciones, que Guy de Maupassant escribió 290 relatos y 7 novelas en 10 años, entre otros daticos que me parecieron interesantes.
April 3, 2015
I'm conflicted about this book. The main character was a lonely burned out librarian who complained through the whole story about her library, her coworkers, her patrons, basically everybody and everything save the young scholar with the nice neck who ignores her except to ask her to turn the lights on one day. It had some truly lovely language and good discussion of Dewey and library organization philosophy, but ultimately it was a big bummer for me.
June 17, 2017
Curahan hati seorang librarian, menarik tapi kadang gengges, rada membosankan tapi banyak kalimatnya yang quotable plus sehati dan sepikiran.
I read a lot, it's comforting. You're never alone if you live surrounded by books.
I read a lot, it's comforting. You're never alone if you live surrounded by books.
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