The Night Bookmobile was published as a series which ran in weekly installments in The Guardian (print and online editions) from Saturday, 31 May 2008 to  Saturday, 27 December 2008. Its presentation on the website leaves a lot to be desired: the default image sizes were too small to be properly readable, and — most annoyingly — in its archived form, the installments are listed across two pages and only in reverse order. 

 

It is the purpose of this single page to present in natural, beginning-to-end order a proper table of contents that provides links directly to the “zoomed-picture”/“enlarged version” of each installment in the series.

 

Each link will open that week’s installment in a new window (or tab).

 

Table of contents

  1. 'It was sitting at the corner of Ravenswood and Belle Plaine. I didn't know it was the Night Bookmobile, of course. It was an enormous, battered Winnebago'
  2. Meet Mr. Openshaw, librarian of The Night Bookmobile
  3. The bookmobile starts to reveal its strange secrets (i)
  4. The bookmobile starts to reveal its strange secrets (ii)
  5. The bookmobile starts to reveal its strange secrets (iii)
  6. The bookmobile stocks everything you've ever read
  7. The bookmobile's librarian is reluctant to allow loans ...
  8. Lexi returns to the apartment and sees Richard. They make up, following their argument
  9. Richard sat at the table and ate the fried eggs and bacon I cooked
  10. Have you ever found your heart's desire but then lost it?
  11. I stood at the corner of Ravenswood and Belle Plaine for six hours, by myself
  12. I gave up looking on that particular corner and began roaming the city aimlessly
  13. 'Like a pregnant woman eating for two, I read for myself and the librarian'
  14. The second time I saw the Night Bookmobile it was another chance encounter
  15. Mr Openshaw opens the door with a smile
  16. Alexandra is finally reunited with Mr. Openshaw and the Night Bookmobile
  17. Alexandra seeks a position at the library
  18. 'In the same way that perfume captures the essence of a flower, these shelves of books were a distillation of my life'
  19. I spent the night roaming the stacks. Mr Openshaw stayed at the wheel of the bookmobile, reading
  20. I went to library school four nights a week. During the day I waitressed and read
  21. Once again, I began to wander the streets of Chicago at dusk
  22. Another chance encounter with the Night Bookmobile
  23. Back in the library
  24. I drank my tea and explored the farthest recesses of my collection
  25. I didn't want Mr Openshaw to see me cry
  26. The books had taken over. I thought of everything I had given up for reading.
  27. I looked to see if I was bleeding on the carpet, but there were no signs of my recent activities
  28. Alexandra! Congratulations! You're hired!
  29. I didn't know how to ask. Mr Openshaw mistook my hesitiation
  30. I looked at the book I was holding. My mother had read it to me over and over