The Library

 

Recently, I've made a point of setting aside time to just read, for pleasure. Spending some time before work just enjoying relaxing with a great book is something I've missed.   

Right now, I'm reading "The Library Book" by Susan Orlean.  It's about the fire at the Los Angeles Central Library in 1986.  It's a great book, I'm really caught up in it. It has me reminiscing.  I spent so very much time at the library growing up! Our town library was within walking distance for me.  As a result, I made several trips each month.  Reading books is one of the things that was most formative for me growing up. 

The very first book I remember taking out was Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. I subsequently read all of her books.  I had two horse pictures on my bedroom wall.  After that I remember going through what felt like most of the sections of the library. My appetite for books was insatiable.  I recall that at one point in Junior High I became very interested in books about ghosts and spirits, and read just about everything in that section. Hmmm.....a bit of foreshadowing there for certain! 

Like many avid readers, I've gotten quite caught up in the need to "own" a book if I enjoy it.  I must have it in physical paper form, and put it on my bookcase, so that I can....what?  All I can picture is Looney Tunes now, "I will hug it and pet it and call it George" or perhaps Golem with "the precious." 

I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea. As the pandemic stretched out and I was home longer and longer, I've spent more time on my home office, which is also where about half of my books are kept.  Basically all of the witchcraft books are downstairs, and everything else is up here in my office. 

As I finessed the office over the last year or so, I came to realize something. It just isn't practical, for me, to "own" every book I read, based on sheer space to store them, and on basic smart budgeting.  In fact, it's ridiculous. 

Now, I know where you're going here. "Get a kindle" you say? I already have one.  This is a very good thing, because if we had a physical copy of every book I have read, this place would be inundated with books on every surface.  I do enjoy having the Kindle. Sometimes, it's the most practical format. 

But I'm a 70's kid, and so I do love the feeling of holding an actual book.  I think for me, moving forward I'm going to be really thinking about HOW I want to access a book: 

(1) Buy a physical copy and keep it 

(2) Buy on kindle 

(3) Listen as an audiobook - some narrations are a work of art aside from the story itself.

(4) Borrow it from the library 

When I think back on how much I loved going to the library,  one of the best things about it was that I didn't just have any book I wanted on hand every second. So part of the fun was the exploration of the library.  It was like a portal, a gateway to the entire world, and I never knew where I'd end up.  Then I'd take those 2 or 3 books, carry them carefully home, and then bliss out immersing myself in whatever world the books brought.  It was SPECIAL, not everyday, not finger-snap accessible. 

Now? Someone says, "Hey, XYZ is a good book. You should read it." So, I order it on Amazon, and it arrives the next day. Plop, on the pile it goes.  Does anyone else have a "TBR" pile that is beyond what you could read in a year?  Because I do. Or if I get it on my Kindle, zing, there it is, where I will promptly forget about it until next year when someone mentions it again. 

I wasn't doing this consciously, but that is exactly my point here. In my brain, "books are wondrous, fabulous things" is encoded in everything I am. So "get more books" is a good thing, right? 

Actually, for me, I think NO, it's not a good thing. This easy access at the snap of a finger has taken a bit of the shine off the process of reading for me. I enjoyed the trips to the library.  Getting dressed, knowing I was going to my favorite place.  Calling my best friend to see if she wanted to go. The walk to the library, enjoying the tree lined streets. The familiarity of that nearby library, the look of the building, that "library smell" inside, and the sheer joy of an hour or two of exploration, putting my hands on dozens of books before making my decision on what was coming home with me.

I loved using the card catalog.  I miss the card catalog. But, I digress. 

Moving forward, I'm going to focus more on my "recommended book list" and see how many of these I can borrow from the Library, and return.  If something is going to make it to Kindle, or to my physical book collection, it's going to be because it is so well loved that it's like a part of me, something I want to re-read, or that the sheer sight of it on the shelf brings joy. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is one of those for me.  I have an older hardcover copy and I DO want to see it and touch it often.  I think from now on, I'm going to be far more choosy about which books end up getting promoted to the "permanent collection."  

While the mission and role of the public library has changed, they are still a vital and important part of our community, and I support them wholeheartedly. I am looking forward to spending much more time at our town library and finding ways to support that mission and make sure others understand it's importance.