![]() ![]() With an easy-flowing prose style the author guides us through the German occupation of Paris in WWII and the women and men whose mission it is to keep open the American Library of Paris. How reading functions as a lifeblood, therapy and escape is a subject of exploration here and the larger themes of friendship, loyalty, guilt and betrayal are on full display. It is a noble cause and those who engage in it are imbued with that nobility. At root is the love of reading and compulsion to impart that love to others. In both books a dedicated cadre of book lovers not only strives to assure that their patrons are supplied with the books they crave, but they put themselves at considerable risk to do so. I am put in mind of the JoJo Moyes title Giver of Stars, the story of itinerant horseback librarians in depression era Appalachia. ![]() The same joy derives from characters who have a love of words and print and they find the path to our hearts an open one. There is a special pleasure in reading books about books, books about words, books about reading. ![]()
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