I love reading, and I love libraries.
Same goes for comfy chairs, a cup of hot coffee or tea, good chocolate, and, of course, a book.
One of my earliest memories is of walking home down a long, long road from elementary school to our tiny home on Atkinson Street in Sheffield. I carried stacks of books so tall I could barely see over the top of them.
Mom got so frustrated with me reading so much that she told me I would go blind if I didn’t cut back. Her warning fell on deaf ears. You know kids – it just made me want to read more.
Have you ever heard the theory that we read to escape reality? I think there’s some truth to that. Sis and I were raised by a single mom. We always had money issues. Children don’t always catch on that there’s a problem, but if we were little detectives, we could probably figure it out. Same meals, no extras (treats, outings, things like that), and mom always working.
So, I read. I liked Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys and any mystery nurse story. My dream was to one day move to a big city, get a small apartment and a secretarial job. I would walk to work, people bustling all around me, and I’d stop at a nice diner for breakfast. I would order pancakes and coffee, eat, then walk to work. This seemed like the perfect future for me.
Until. . . .Reality got closer for us as we grew and became painfully aware of our circumstances. And still, I read. I became a student librarian and had a blast. Is there any place more fun than a library or a bookstore? I think not.
Years later I became a librarian in Buda. (What can I say? I love small towns.) To be in charge of ordering books, getting to read as many as I wanted, well, talk about a dream come true. Sometimes I would turn in a slow circle in the middle of the main room and simply smile at how blessed I felt to be there.
I went on to a different job. Okay, many different jobs, but the love of the library never left me. It never will. Someday when I can get out and about, one of my first trips will be to the library. I’ve spent lots of time there, and in the coffee house across the street. The perfect combo is a place like Barnes & Noble where you have a coffee house inside a library. I could live in a place like that.
Nowadays our library delivers books to me. I became aware of Donald Westlake a while back when I read a book recommended by Stephen King. It’s called The Ax, and its premise of what to do if you get laid off during middle age is nothing short of brilliant. I’ve re-read it several times and it still thrills me.
That led me somehow to Westlake’s Dortmunder series. He wrote 15 of those comic criminal capers and I wish he’d written 15 more. With characters like John Dortmunder, Andy Kelp, Stan Murch, Rollo the bartender, Tiny Bulcher and many more, you’ll never get bored. The book in the picture is the last in the series. But it’s the green-shaded lamp that warms my heart even more. Walk into the Kewanee Public Library and you’ll see those lamps glowing softly on every table, inviting you to pull up a chair and read.
Our library is rich with free stuff – books, DVDs, CDs, magazines and lots more. There are comfy overstuffed chairs scattered about with small tables nearby to hold whatever we want.
Years ago I bought a green-shaded lamp because it reminded me of our library. I have books in nearly every room of my home. If I had more rooms, there would be more bookcases filled with books.
I hope you love to read, to get lost in another world just for a few hours. It’s an (almost) no-cost way to go on a vacation without leaving your home. I say “almost” because I’ve got Stephen King’s latest novel coming through the mail in September. It’s based on a favorite character and I can’t wait to fall into her world and tune out this one, at least for over 400 pages.
Until then, I’ll switch on the lamp, open a book, and make believe I finally made it to the library.
See you there.
