The Night Bookmobile Hardcover – Bargain Price, September 1, 2010

Audrey Niffenegger reminds me a lot of Alan Ball (True Blood, Six Feet Under.) Neither one is afraid to explore the darker side of our obsessions with people, places and things. In this fairy tale for adults, Audrey deftly explores our fascination with reading books and creating our own libraries. It is a cautionary tale of obsession and the consequences of getting what you wish for.I saw myself in this book. I have floor to ceiling book shelves and stacks of books everywhere. I never worked in a library, but I did work in a book store for five years to build up my reading collection. As soon as AMAZON launched I quit the bookstore and began buying books on the internet. And even though I give lots of my books away to libraries, charities, family and friends, I am like Thomas Jefferson - I end up buying ones I have parted with all over again. This grim fairy tale helped me put things into perspective.This graphic novel was first presented as a short story in Zoetrope and serialized in The Guardian. This is the first book in a proposed trilogy.

Reading negative reviews of this incredible book really bothered me. Just because a book has pictures doesn't make it for children, and this graphic novel was never marketed as a children's book. With that being said...I loved it. It was exactly what you'd expect from Audrey Niffenegger--beautiful, haunting, and more than a little macabre. It's about a woman who sees a mysterious bookmobile three times in her life. The collection of the bookmobile is every book she's ever read, and she has her own personal librarian. This is a love letter to books and reading, but it's also a warning too, I thought. Giving too much of herself to books leads this woman, who becomes a librarian, to live her life with only books for company.The story was unique, the illustrations were just the right mix of mature and childlike, and the writing was very personal. A wonderful work. Highly recommended.

This is kind of an odd review, because I'm not sure that I know what I'm supposed to get out of this story, but I loved it regardless. Probably because I think people who love to read have been trying somehow, their entire lives to keep record of what they read, and how they felt about, regardless if they knew they were doing that or night. So 5 stars, because it's beautifully illustrated, and it's something different and it's haunting and it's not the most uplifting story. You don't read it, and immediately think of sunshine and rainbows and becoming a librarian, but you think...something. Which is just as good, I suppose.

The Night Bookmobile is the year's most exciting book about books. It's that rare, beautiful thing in the graphic genre: 40 full colour pen and ink illustrations that explore a bibliophile's (dark) dream. In a long and wide book size of 8 x 11.5 inches are illustrations of colorful bookshelves, a row of books showing titles on spines, a library-room of books, a reader hugging a book close to her, and a universal library right out of a Borges tale.In an afterword to the book, its author and illustrator, Ms.Niffenegger, says "When I began writing The Night Bookmobile it was a story about a woman's secret life as a reader. As I worked it also became a story about the claims that books place on their readers, the imbalance between our inner and out selves, a cautionary tale of the seductions of the written word. It became a vision of the afterlife as a library..." This, she says, is the first installment of a trilogy to be called `The Library'

It's a little creepy because it's about death, but if you're o.k. with the afterlife, then this may be right up your alley...not really a children's book...but definitely a book lover's book...have bought it as a gift, and also a hard cover for my library at home...

I should have read the 1-star reviews. This is a beautifully created graphic book, with lovely prose. Until you reach the end, the story seems to be about comfort in reading, nostalgia for a lifetime of reading, the lure of unexpected discoveries and connections based on stories, the nudge toward self-improvement that may be found in literature . . . as I was reading, I thought about children and friends who I could share this story with . . . then I finished the book and put it away in horror. When the main character decides to commit suicide so she might leave the real world and become a night librarian, I had to reevaluate what the purpose and message of this book might be. And I decided it's not a good and healthy celebration of reading and stories!

Though this graphic novel is a very quick read, the story sticks with you. I've thought about it every time I pick up (or abandon) a new book. What if your entire reading history was cataloged? What would that look like? Fascinating story.

As a children's librarian and former bookmobile librarian, I was intrigued when I received this as a gift. I am not familiar with Niffenegger's other work, but am officially turned off by pursuing it. While I appreciate the clever aspects of the narrator's personal bookmobile and collection, the amateur artwork left me bored. Her storyboarding and illustrations are flat and do very little to advance the story or utilize the graphic format. And sorry, I just didn't get why she needed to commit suicide? Depressing and weird. If Niffenegger truly wanted to communicate her love and joy of books, couldn't the narrator transcend her life to attain a more joyous end? Be promoted to a mysterious bookmobile, perhaps? It seemed like a frivolous attempt by a so-called best selling author to write without much editorial oversight. Let this one pass.

I dream story for readers with an unexpected end.

This is one of those books you dislike at the start and LOVE at the end.Very different and the theme resounds long after you put it down.Thank you to all who had a hand in getting this book to me in perfect condition!

Great book about books. Fabulous illustrations.

Like other reviewers, I looked forward to receiving my copy of this. I love the quality of it, the artwork is great. I enjoyed trying to spot titles on the shelves that I too have read. The story is brief and I look forward to hearing more about it from the author. I found the story shocking.

After reading the wonderful tale - Moths of the New World - I saw that this was a similar tale but I was deeply disappointed.This is a very simple tale with a post modern twist. Nothing special.I've decided to re-read Moths of the New World and hope that there is more to come.....