Book Review-Packing My Library By Alberto Manguel

The subtitle of this book is: an Elegy and Ten Digressions. The book is written by the very erudite Alberto Manguel, who is presently the Director of the National Library of Argentina. Prior to that he was a member of the literati having written a number of books about books and reading. The foremost title amongst them is A History of Reading (Manguel 1996). This book is about his library, a library that he had when he lived in a farmhouse in France. It was a very large space where he stored his carefully curated book collection. It was a situation that he had always dreamt about.  

But an opportunity came, and he very reluctantly packed up his library. Unfortunately, he had not had an opportunity to restore his dream library in all of its former glory. The book is an extended essay on how he came to be where he is and how he came to be such a bibliophile. The central essay, his elegy,  is interspersed with ten digressions. The alternation of continuing his thoughts about his library and the digressions gives us a glimpse at how a scholar’s mind  of this caliber works. The digressions incorporate historical and cultural analysis along with his personal ruminations centered about books. While they are supplemental to the main essay itself, they reveal much of what made him who he is and how he came to collect and curate his library.

He traces his scholarly history from when he was very young and gives us a small look at his journey to becoming a bibliophile. The bibliophile vibe resonated with me, because it gave me a connection with the author even though I exist in a completely difference milieu than he does, the love of books and reading ties us together as sympathetic kindred spirit.

It is a short but dense read, covering  a fascinating and panoramic group of subjects. The prose elicited emotions and consonance with the author’s thoughts. The tangential digressions that are structurally separate from the main essay treat the reader to nonlinear paths of exploration  through many different subjects. This is the best kind of reading possible, it entertains, provokes, inspires, and fascinates.

In the end. We find out how the author came to being the director of the National Library of Argentina, and why all his books are still in pieces all around the world. It was sad for a fellow bibliophile like me to find out how the books are scattered. At the same time, it is a fitting tribute to his library and to his love of his books.

It is a short book. It's not expansive nor granular in its scope. For the expansive exposition on reading, I procured his A History of Reading.  This will be one of those slim volumes that I will keep next to my reading chair, always available for a revisit and reread so that I can rekindle that feeling of warmth and comfort that can come from reminiscing about books, whether they have been read, or not.

References

Manguel, Alberto. A History of Reading. New York City: Penguin Putnam Inc., 1996.