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Libraries

Living Animals

by William H. Gass,

We shall not understand what a book is, and why a book has the value many persons have, and is even less replaceable than a person, if we forget how…

Animal House

From a city-council meeting in White Settlement, Texas, in July 2016. The previous month, the council had voted to evict Browser, a cat who had lived in the local library…

On Not Being Well Read

by John Crowley,

I loved reading before I could read. I have a distinct memory — yes, our memories are subject to lapses and improvisations, but this one has been around so long I…

The Philosopher and the Thief

by John Kaag,

Trespassing in the library of a dead genius

In the Writers’ Room

by Robert Andrew Powell,

Spiraling downward at the Central Library

Dog-eared afternoon

by Harper’s Staff,

You know tit when you see it

by Harper’s Staff,

Lost in the stacks

by Matthew Battles,

The decline and fall of the universal library

In defense of the book

by William H. Gass,

On the enduring pleasures of paper, type, page, and ink

The glance patrol

by Harper’s Staff,

Untitled

Art by Jacob Lawrence,

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