The Importance of Libraries . . .

I have always loved going to the Library. I suppose it is a mixture of love and knowledge which fills my heart as soon as I walk through a library door which is so very compelling . . . but no mind . . . I do so love to go.

As a young girl in Southern Manitoba I used to practically live in the base library on my summer holidays. I didn’t often get there during the school year, except on Saturdays, but come summertime I was there every day. You were only allowed to take one book out at a time as a child and I was a voracious reader so I would be there every day. I’m quite sure they got sick of me.

There is something really special about a library. They all seem to smell the same . . . a mixture of leather and paper and glue. There’s also an aura of respect and reverence in the air, quite like entering a cathedral in a way . . . everyone speaking in hushed tones and tiptoeing about. 

To get to the library of my childhood you had to travel down a long pathway that ran alongside of some railway tracks that were carefully set apart by a tall wire fence, topped with barb wire. I can remember seeing bats hanging by their toes all along this fence and riding my bicycle past them as quickly as I could, my mind full of fear and my hands trembling as one arm desperately covered my long hair so as to protect it from their impending invasion and the other hand hung tenaciously on to my bicycle handle bar. It’s a wonder I ever made it past them without falling down or worse!!! I had read somewhere that bats will get themselves into your hair and get all tangled up and I was taking no chances!

As a girl I loved the tales of Enid Blyton. Her fairy stories were marvellous. I devoured them like a hungry man at a banquet. I also loved her tales of the Famous Five and the Secret Seven. All her books carried my child’s mind on adventures to locales I could only dream of ever seeing. As a child growing up in Canada these places seemed so very exotic, and how wonderful to have your very own parrot named Kiki! 

 

 

I also loved Nancy Drew and I believe I read just about every book in the series, some of them several times. She was my hero. She was pretty and smart and there was no mystery she could not solve. I fancied being just like her when I grew up.

Then there were the Bobbsey Twins, Nan and Bert, Freddie and Flossie. They lived in a big house and had a cook/housekeeper and a handyman/man of work, something very far removed from any of my own life’s experience. They got into adventures and scrapes too, which helped to fuel my child-like dreams and aspirations.

Trixie Belden was another one of my favourites as were the great classics such as Little Women, Alice In Wonderland, and one of my all time favourites, The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. 

When I ran out of books to pick from at the library, I would read our own encyclopaedia at home, the Grolier's Book of Knowledge. It sat in a corner in the living room in it’s very own wooden bookcase, which I believe my parents received for free for having bought the encyclopaedia.  I believe I must have read it from cover to cover. It was full of lots of wonderful and interesting facts and pictures. As well we had a series of books about other countries which I also devoured, going places in my mind and seeing things that I one day hoped to visit on my own. As an older teen I can remember falling in love with the exploits of the British temptress Amber St Clare in the novel Forever Amber and I used to eat up Harlequin Romances as fast as they could print them.

 

 

The love of books and reading is something I have carried with me my whole life. I am always reading one, or two or sometimes even three books at a time. Todd can’t understand how I can keep track of so many. I guess I’m just a genius! Hahaha I think it’s more likely that I get bored really easily and so my mind likes to skip around a bit. Perhaps its my love of the written word that inspires me in a way to want to write my own words. I don’t know. I only know for sure that my life would be a life half lived without the written word to inspire and enthral me, and the library has always been the best and cheapest way to fuel my voracious appetite for reading.

I think I remember reading somewhere at one time that it was Benjamin Franklin who invented the lending library. Is this true? I guess it doesn’t really matter who invented the library, I only know for sure that I am grateful to whomever it was who did it, for they have brought great joy into my life and into the lives of many others. My kudos to them, whomever they may be!

A thought to carry with you  . . .

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *Reading forces you to be quiet
in a world that no longer
makes a place for that.
~John Green  •。★★ 。* 。 

 

Baking in The English Kitchen today for those so inclined . . .  A Fudgy Almond Tray Cake.  Nom nom! 

I may or may not be on tomorrow.  It all depends on what time I wake up.  It was almost 7 am when I got up this morning which is pretty late for me!  I hope you have a wonderful Saturday!  Don't forget along the way of your day! 

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And I do too!