As some visitors to the Cafe may know, a number of us are finding ourselves with a bit more spare time than usual. I've been feeling incredibly distracted lately and so have attempted to find some respite in catching up on my reading. In the next few days I'll be posting some more about what I've been reading. One particularly interesting read from the past 14 days is Geraldine Brooks's People of the Book. This novel is, as the promo material describes, "Inspired by the true story of a mysterious codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, People of the Book is a sweeping adventure through five centuries of history. From its creation in Muslim-ruled, medieval Spain, the illuminated manuscript makes a series of perilous journeys: through Inquisition-era Venice, fin-de-siecle Vienna, and the Nazi sacking of Sarajevo."
I was originally drawn to this book for its connections with book history and because it was dedicated "to the librarians." Having spent mornings engrossed in it, I think there is a lot more going on in this book than an interesting topic and a compelling read. Given a range of things happening both locally, nationally and internationally, I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about power: not only about the ways in which people take, use, and abuse power but also how ordinary people can find, reclaim and assert power in small yet deeply significant ways. In recent weeks, I've also thought about libraries, librarianship and the multiple roles libraries and librarians have played in the world throughout history and today. Brooks's book is one that I'm going to be thinking about quite a bit over the weeks and months to come.
