If there's anything more symbolic of the love of knowledge and freedom of information than the public library, I can't think of it. My entire life I've wandered around the tall metal shelves full of volumes in bewildered awe that I could just pile up a stack in my arms and take them home--for free! As often as I wanted!
I was a young geek without much of a social life--I had the loser trifecta of intelligence, sensitivity, and fat that rendered me pretty much un-dateable all through my wonder years. Like many kids of that ilk I spent long hours curled up in the quiet corners of the library--at school and in town. I worked in the libraries in junior high and high school, and was one of the first to hand in my summer read-a-thon sheets with every line filled with books I'd read. Our town library was tiny, but to me it was a paradise of fantasy worlds and far-reaching knowledge. I was known for leaving the place with a stack of books too heavy to carry.
I still do that, actually.
When I first wandered into the Austin Public Library's Faulk Central branch, I nearly fell over. I'd never seen anything like it. Three floors...three floors of BOOKS! The entire first floor was dedicated to fiction! There were aisles and aisles of philosophy, religion, nature, cookbooks, languages...my head spun.
Better still, I could check out any subject I wanted, absolutely no charge, and not have to worry about hiding the books under my mattress for fear of parental discovery. I didn't have to worry about the librarian telling my father that his daughter was loitering over the four books on sex, or worse...shhh...the occult shelf.
The best part? Years later, the APL carries my books. I'm in a freaking library.
The mind boggles.
Bookstores may be cleaner, and they may have lattes, but the public library is still one of our most precious renewable resources.
Where else can you go and, for the price of parking, come home with an entire grocery sack full of books that you can keep for three weeks and then take back and get all new ones?
(Okay, actually, the books I got yesterday cost me $111.65. The parking was 65 cents, but on the way there I got a traffic citation for running a red light, which I totally thought was still yellow, but Officer Large Man With a Gun disagreed. So it was a kind of expensive library trip but it was pretty much my fault. Obey traffic laws, kids, et cetera.)
Just for fun here's a peek at what I checked out yesterday during my library orgy. I hadn't been there in months, and it's enough of a drive to Faulk that I like to make it worth my while.
Left column:
A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe
The Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks
Altars by Denise Linn
In a Spiritual Style by Laura Cerwinske and Matthew Fuller
The Bollywood Cookbook by Bulbul Mankani
How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson
Right column:
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman
More Sand in my Bra (Traveler's Tales series)
A House in Fez: Building a Life in the Ancient Heart of Morocco by Suzanna Clarke
Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality by Clea Danaan
The Mystic Hours by Wayne Teasdale
India: The Definitive History by D. R. Sardesai
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
Secrets from an Indian Kitchen by Mridula Baljekar
I was a young geek without much of a social life--I had the loser trifecta of intelligence, sensitivity, and fat that rendered me pretty much un-dateable all through my wonder years. Like many kids of that ilk I spent long hours curled up in the quiet corners of the library--at school and in town. I worked in the libraries in junior high and high school, and was one of the first to hand in my summer read-a-thon sheets with every line filled with books I'd read. Our town library was tiny, but to me it was a paradise of fantasy worlds and far-reaching knowledge. I was known for leaving the place with a stack of books too heavy to carry.
I still do that, actually.
When I first wandered into the Austin Public Library's Faulk Central branch, I nearly fell over. I'd never seen anything like it. Three floors...three floors of BOOKS! The entire first floor was dedicated to fiction! There were aisles and aisles of philosophy, religion, nature, cookbooks, languages...my head spun.
Better still, I could check out any subject I wanted, absolutely no charge, and not have to worry about hiding the books under my mattress for fear of parental discovery. I didn't have to worry about the librarian telling my father that his daughter was loitering over the four books on sex, or worse...shhh...the occult shelf.
The best part? Years later, the APL carries my books. I'm in a freaking library.
The mind boggles.
Bookstores may be cleaner, and they may have lattes, but the public library is still one of our most precious renewable resources.
Where else can you go and, for the price of parking, come home with an entire grocery sack full of books that you can keep for three weeks and then take back and get all new ones?
(Okay, actually, the books I got yesterday cost me $111.65. The parking was 65 cents, but on the way there I got a traffic citation for running a red light, which I totally thought was still yellow, but Officer Large Man With a Gun disagreed. So it was a kind of expensive library trip but it was pretty much my fault. Obey traffic laws, kids, et cetera.)
Just for fun here's a peek at what I checked out yesterday during my library orgy. I hadn't been there in months, and it's enough of a drive to Faulk that I like to make it worth my while.
Left column:
A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe
The Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks
Altars by Denise Linn
In a Spiritual Style by Laura Cerwinske and Matthew Fuller
The Bollywood Cookbook by Bulbul Mankani
How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson
Right column:
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman
More Sand in my Bra (Traveler's Tales series)
A House in Fez: Building a Life in the Ancient Heart of Morocco by Suzanna Clarke
Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality by Clea Danaan
The Mystic Hours by Wayne Teasdale
India: The Definitive History by D. R. Sardesai
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
Secrets from an Indian Kitchen by Mridula Baljekar
Hear, hear!! This reminds me I should haul my cookies to the APL. I miss going. :) Nice book selection.
Posted by: Nadia | September 17, 2009 at 02:58 PM
I read way too much to be able to buy all the books. I don't know what I'd do without libraries.
Posted by: heather | September 17, 2009 at 04:40 PM
How sweet to be sitting in Australia and see my book in your pile of great books! Sorry about the traffic citation.
All the best
Suzanna Clarke
Posted by: Suzanna Clarke | September 17, 2009 at 07:45 PM
I absolutely love books and libraries. The only problem is that I can't keep the books I borrow...
Posted by: Heather | September 17, 2009 at 09:17 PM
My entire life I have loved the public libraries and all the wonders they offer. When I first moved to OKC and a friend took me to the library downtown, I swear I had an orgasm. *sigh* Floors of books, rows upon rows of books....much like your experience. It was heaven on earth for me. I haven't been to the library in ages....I should really find a way to get down there soon. Thanks for the reminder of how wonderful this place is.
Posted by: Ari | September 18, 2009 at 07:56 AM
Holy cow, how did you carry all that??*
You know, I love that you're such a bookworm, I always have. It's weird to me that I JUST started library-ing the past couple of weeks, when I've had your influence all this time. Wtf was I doing without all these books all the time? This is great! You're right (not that I ever thought you weren't)!
*I got smart yesterday and brought a shopping bag with me so I could carry more, tee-hee.
Posted by: s1ren | September 18, 2009 at 10:44 AM
I checked out half of those same books in the last few months from the Faulk - I think we are book twins!
And I am getting rid of copies of Altars and In a Spiritual Style should you decided that they are books you want on your bookshelf permanently.
Posted by: Rowan Hartin | September 18, 2009 at 03:25 PM
libraries are such wonderful places. the public library system in my city almost shut down this past week because the state didn't approve its budget and the mayor wouldn't have been able to provide funding for the libraries. luckily, an emergency resolution was passed, and the libraries got to stay open!
Posted by: Ricky | September 18, 2009 at 06:35 PM
Oh, how to be a domestic goddess is brilliant! I bought my copy a year ago and now it's completely covered in fat, sugar and eggy stains. That should tell you enough :-).
DO try the steam pudding. Aaaah, steam pudding. And put some extra lemon zest in the pudding. Tip: invite some friends to help you eat it otherwise your trousers are going to explode. It'll be worth it though ;-).
Posted by: Tessa Schlechtriem | September 19, 2009 at 08:18 AM
You comment about the sex and occult books made me giggle! I live in a small town and look rather young for my age. I went to check out a few books--one was "The History of Witchcraft"--and was asked if my mother knew what I was reading. I replied with, "I could not care less if she did. My husband will when I get home, and if he tries to tell me I can't read them then he won't be married much longer!" Thankfully, the college from which I graduated has a local branch with a lovely library, giving me access to all the books I can order! (And they have a little snack area with cookies and hot beverages for 25 cents each!)
Posted by: Medusa75 | September 19, 2009 at 11:46 AM
I lovelovelove libraries! Currently I've got about, oh, forty books from our public library here at home.
I've been brought up a booklover (what else can you become when you have the Lord of the Rings and Terry Pratchett read to you when you're six?) and I still remember how I loved that scene in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" when Belle got that HUGE library from the Beast. That was my dream when I grew up: to have a library like that. No princesses for me, thanks!
Libraries make one feel so connected with all the knowledge - I can read books about my town's history (which is small, but has been around for a long while, so lots of medieval stuff), there are huge art shelves, a small English section - I'm in Germany - school books, lots and lots of fantasy books, French books, Russion books (which I can't read but thought I'd mention anyway). It's like a temple of knowledge and the imagination, and it makes me all warm and fuzzy to think of the ancient libraries like Alexandria.
Posted by: Kjesta | September 19, 2009 at 03:00 PM
You can read all those books in three weeks??? My local university library only allows me to take out five books (since I'm not a student), and that turns out to be more than enough for me.
And by the way, I found that Denise Lynn Altars book is really inspirational. I borrowed it from a friend once but had to give it back, boo hoo.
Posted by: Thalia | September 21, 2009 at 05:23 PM
Thalia--
Actually I can read them all in three weeks--I'm halfway through the stack already, mostly because many of them were cookbooks/design books with more pics than text. Our library system also lets us renew online, so I don't *have* to finish them all in three. The big library is far enough from my house that I always like to get a huge stack when I go.
:)
Posted by: Sylvan | September 21, 2009 at 05:35 PM