Libraries!

There seems to have been a spate of books and articles about libraries lately. As readers of this blog know, I am a great admirer and lover of libraries (as you very probably are as well), so I am always happy to see tributes to libraries, information about libraries, pictures of libraries, and basically anything related to libraries. A book which is getting a lot of attention right now is Susan Orlean’s “The Library Book.” I haven’t read it yet, but I have read several reviews, and it is on my list to read. Also, the New York Times Book Review recently (10/21/18) had a two-page spread titled “In Praise of Libraries: More Than a Room Full of Books,” in which the editors asked several authors to write about a childhood library or other favorite library. The authors include Barbara Kingsolver, Curtis Sittenfeld, Amy Tan, and several others. Every one of them speaks with love and reverence of favorite libraries. The titles to their individual short pieces include “My Temple,” “If There’s a Heaven, It’s a Library,” and “Free Meant Freedom.” In several instances, one feels the authors believe that libraries saved their lives, and helped them become writers. I of course found this collection of short encomia to libraries very reasonable, and a great joy to read. A few days ago a friend posted on Facebook a photo of the gorgeous and historic British Museum Reading Room, and later I saw, also on Facebook, a photo of the great reading room of the University of Washington Library. Within a couple of days, there were all these – and more -- instances of references to, writing about, and photos of libraries, and it reminded me, once again, what precious and important and essential places libraries are, and how meaningful various libraries have -- individually and collectively -- been to me personally. Special thanks to my university library and to my beautiful local library!