SPINE by Jud Fine & Harry...

SPINE by Jud Fine & Harry Reese (Los Angeles Library Assn.: $25, until April 1, $35 thereafter; 127 pp., illustrated, paperback original.) The Maguire Gardens of the renovated Central Library offer one of the most pleasant environments in metropolitan L.A. In this handsome book, the creators of the “art plan” installed there in 1993 explain their work, although a facility designed for all citizens shouldn’t need this elaborate exegesis. Fine and Reese seem to have been guided by a fuzzy-minded notion of political correctness, rather than an aesthetic vision: They wouldn’t quote the Declaration of Independence because it was written by Thomas Jefferson, who owned slaves. Although obviously well-intentioned, “Spine” leaves readers hoping the Library chooses books more carefully than art.