Love so much about this. Your introductory story to give us more on an insight into you, the libraries and the memories it conjures up for me as a child, and the books themselves. I love the sound of the library memoir.
Thanks Helen 😘 I think the unfolding of the whole thing was so very me—little bit magical and fated and a lot nerdy girl! 😂 It was a lovely memoir and like I say the human stories really bring it to life. Double underlining how much so many people need, use and love a library ❤️
That book has the makings of a movie! Loved this Claire, so true about convenience culture - we are side stepping the whole joy of discovery. But also omg you have dredged up a childhood memory The Rats of NIMH!!
Ha! I’m putting Jason Isaacs down for the lead role and very much hoping the author didn’t just sit as his computer requesting library cards after all! 😂
I’m amazed how counterintuitive it’s become to take my time and pick from what’s on the shelf. But so far, so very good 😅
Reading this made me so happy, Claire! Love that feeling of chance encounters in the library.
I'm in the lucky position to have two "home" libraries. One in Kentucky, one in Ireland. Unfortunately, my Irish one is becoming more and more click & collect. Was surprised and a little disappointed when I recently returned after a trip to the states and realized you don't even have to interact with a human to collect your holds anymore.
The KY one, although quite small, always seems to be up to something that makes me smile. From community jigsaw puzzles, to ringing the "literary bell" when a little one becomes a newly independent reader, to the people working the desk just being really enthusiastic about books (loved how excited they got when I tried to check out a Kate Atkinson that was no longer in their system... they were beaming that I got to take it home and keep it). Long may it last.
Thank you Marci! I love that you’re a dual library citizen and can use your cultural compare and contrast skills to share how it’s done well. The library memoir I mentioned in the newsletter really documented the demise in libraries here in the UK over the last 15 years. So many closed down and so many job cuts, but also fewer books and that’s really noticeable in my local one, which I suppose is another reason I have taken to relying on the app as I can borrow from across the whole region.
Love to hear all the Kentucky library joys, but my heart particularly soared for the sounding of the literary bell. That’s just gorgeous ❤️
Library memories bring me such joy. They were the beginnings of a life of books. The mobile one that came to our tiny village was a bringer of adventure and mystery and romance and in the early days, Topsy and Tim, where all the reading joy began.
Love the idea of an A-Z library reading challenge.
That’s it! There’s the magic of books and the magic of discovering a place that offers you all the books you need (and even better brings them in a magical bus!).
I’m very much enjoying the challenge so far. It does feel very counterintuitive to be so slow and unplanned, but I guess that’s the whole point! 😂
What a wonderful ode to libraries, and a reminder to us all to visit our local. I love my library. I think I enjoy the act of wandering around, touching the books, imagining all the book friends that await me.
Call me by your name is a favourite of mine and I'm keen to hear your thoughts, maybe I shall join you and re-read/rewatch too.
Just finished and I wanted to tell you how much I adored Call Me By Your Name. Just beautiful. The final section had me holding back tears and was actually more satisfying than I remember the film being ... I'm looking forward to a rewatch!
Oh, I feel your library love and share your super library fandom. In fact, my after-school job in high school (from the day I turned 16 until the day I left for college) was working in my nearest public library branch. My suburb has three library branches, plus there was one about 20 minutes farther away, but mine was beloved to me as I'd been going there since I was four years old. My job included re-shelving books, checking patrons' books out to them, and "reading" the shelves (going book-by-book in my assigned area of the library that month to make sure all books were in order).
As I sit here with 17 library books on the counter behind me (and, admittedly, one that's two days overdue), I always think that libraries represent safe spaces, especially public libraries. Books, of course, in all their myriad forms, but social services and tax help, shelter from the elements for unhoused people and passages teeming with wide-eyed children, delighted (as I always am) that they can take these precious stories with them at no cost and explore worlds and times unknown. A library, more than a bookstore, is, like the TARDIS, bigger on the inside.
Hi-vis vest-man may need to visit the library and take out How to Win Friends and Influence People. Tap-tap-tap, indeed.
Sadly, my library system in Chattanooga does not have the Bevis book, and my owned TBR pile (which is too often ignored in favor of the library pile) is a little too high to warrant buying it right now, but I've added it to my wish list. But I'm intrigued as to how Bevis got so many library cars; in the US, in general, you have to be a resident of the city or county; if you reside outside of it, there's generally a fee, though Chattanooga's library system offers an alternative to the $50 annual fee for non-residents: 20 volunteer hours. Who wouldn't want to volunteer in a library?!
I'll see your The Worst Witch and Mrs. Frisby and raise you The Westing Game (or really anything by Ellen Raskin) and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. In fact, I may head to the library on Monday and pick up both to re-read during our off-week from Austen Connection over July 4th.
Meanwhile, have you read The Library Book by Susan Orleans? It's ostensibly about the investigation into the Los Angeles public library fire, but it makes these amazing circuitous forays into all-things-library, particular the history of libraries (and librarians) in the United States. It's a compelling behind-the-scenes read.
Julie, where to start! Thank you so much for sharing your life in libraries ❤️ The ADW library is stunning! I love that you worked at a library, I never have but I did set up the village phonebox library, pretty much so I could play at being a librarian although on a somewhat smaller scale! 😂☎️📚
I haven’t read your childhood favourites, although I have heard of Mrs Basil E through Dash & Lily, which I’m probably far too old for, but enjoy annually as it’s Christmas in New York with a side order of books! And thank you for the Susan Orleans reminder, that was on my wish list years ago and I’d forgotten all about it! Imagine if it’s waiting under O when I get that far through the alphabet!
Oh, no! The idea that the late, great Ellen Raskin never made it across the pond is going to break my heart. Every reader should read AT LEAST The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) and The Westing Game, though there are many other under appreciated works. And based on your reference to The Worst Witch, you might enjoy E. L. Konigsburg's early and FAR lesser known Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth.
Just as the WWI vets with shell shock were prescribes Austen to calm their nerves, I find (in these uncertain — more so on my side of the world — times), 60s and 70s YA to be extremely calming. Happy rest of the weekend!
I loved reading this. I have wonderful library memories too. I am still an avid library user. I do sometimes rush in and out, just snatching up my reservations, but am also a browser. I have found that spending 30 minutes in a library often puts to bed that need to buy books!
Thanks Emma ❤️ Glad to hear you’re another library lover with a stack of library stories. It sounds like you’ve got a better balance going on and I love the notion that a good browse delays a splurge!
Thanks Anna! I had a lot of fun writing this one as you can probably tell! The whole taking things slower vibe lent itself to a very meandering story! 😂 Here’s to library-loving nerds (I feel like we need badges 🤔😂)
Library super-fan here! It's funny, our local library is running it's annual children's summer book club event and it sent me meandering down memory lane back to when I was taking part in those book clubs...I would walk down the library every day (or cycle, because that got me to the books faster!) and I inhaled book after book after book, checking off the little chart way faster than was probably intended. *wistful sigh*.
I'm also guilty of the click-and-collect library use these days....also for the same reason as you, because I'm not to be trusted and have no self-control. I'm terribly greedy when let loose in the stacks. Still, you've given me something to think about....and also maybe I need to make up my own summer reading club for myself this year. xo
I love that Mel! It was such a treat to be able to do your bookish thing and be appreciated by the librarians for it!
Also glad to hear you resonate with what I’m saying. It’s absolutely those competing forces of trying not to borrow too many but still making some room for a little more spur of the moment choosing.
I love the idea of recreating your summer book club haze and just going for it, knowing you can rein it back in when ‘school’s back’. Keep me posted!
Love so much about this. Your introductory story to give us more on an insight into you, the libraries and the memories it conjures up for me as a child, and the books themselves. I love the sound of the library memoir.
Thanks Helen 😘 I think the unfolding of the whole thing was so very me—little bit magical and fated and a lot nerdy girl! 😂 It was a lovely memoir and like I say the human stories really bring it to life. Double underlining how much so many people need, use and love a library ❤️
That book has the makings of a movie! Loved this Claire, so true about convenience culture - we are side stepping the whole joy of discovery. But also omg you have dredged up a childhood memory The Rats of NIMH!!
Ha! I’m putting Jason Isaacs down for the lead role and very much hoping the author didn’t just sit as his computer requesting library cards after all! 😂
I’m amazed how counterintuitive it’s become to take my time and pick from what’s on the shelf. But so far, so very good 😅
Reading this made me so happy, Claire! Love that feeling of chance encounters in the library.
I'm in the lucky position to have two "home" libraries. One in Kentucky, one in Ireland. Unfortunately, my Irish one is becoming more and more click & collect. Was surprised and a little disappointed when I recently returned after a trip to the states and realized you don't even have to interact with a human to collect your holds anymore.
The KY one, although quite small, always seems to be up to something that makes me smile. From community jigsaw puzzles, to ringing the "literary bell" when a little one becomes a newly independent reader, to the people working the desk just being really enthusiastic about books (loved how excited they got when I tried to check out a Kate Atkinson that was no longer in their system... they were beaming that I got to take it home and keep it). Long may it last.
Thank you Marci! I love that you’re a dual library citizen and can use your cultural compare and contrast skills to share how it’s done well. The library memoir I mentioned in the newsletter really documented the demise in libraries here in the UK over the last 15 years. So many closed down and so many job cuts, but also fewer books and that’s really noticeable in my local one, which I suppose is another reason I have taken to relying on the app as I can borrow from across the whole region.
Love to hear all the Kentucky library joys, but my heart particularly soared for the sounding of the literary bell. That’s just gorgeous ❤️
That's heartbreaking about library decline. Would really be catastrophic to lose them.
I have to say every time I remember the literary bell ringing it makes me smile.
Library memories bring me such joy. They were the beginnings of a life of books. The mobile one that came to our tiny village was a bringer of adventure and mystery and romance and in the early days, Topsy and Tim, where all the reading joy began.
Love the idea of an A-Z library reading challenge.
That’s it! There’s the magic of books and the magic of discovering a place that offers you all the books you need (and even better brings them in a magical bus!).
I’m very much enjoying the challenge so far. It does feel very counterintuitive to be so slow and unplanned, but I guess that’s the whole point! 😂
What a wonderful ode to libraries, and a reminder to us all to visit our local. I love my library. I think I enjoy the act of wandering around, touching the books, imagining all the book friends that await me.
Call me by your name is a favourite of mine and I'm keen to hear your thoughts, maybe I shall join you and re-read/rewatch too.
Thank you, Evelyn! That’s exactly it, it’s about all the potential inspiration and adventures just waiting for you to pick them!
I started CMBYN in the heat of the sun this afternoon and I’m loving it already. It’s so beautifully written.
Oh, to read it in summer too! What a delight!
Just finished and I wanted to tell you how much I adored Call Me By Your Name. Just beautiful. The final section had me holding back tears and was actually more satisfying than I remember the film being ... I'm looking forward to a rewatch!
It’s so magical! The film is also top tier
Oh, I feel your library love and share your super library fandom. In fact, my after-school job in high school (from the day I turned 16 until the day I left for college) was working in my nearest public library branch. My suburb has three library branches, plus there was one about 20 minutes farther away, but mine was beloved to me as I'd been going there since I was four years old. My job included re-shelving books, checking patrons' books out to them, and "reading" the shelves (going book-by-book in my assigned area of the library that month to make sure all books were in order).
Then, I went to Cornell University, which has lots of libraries on campus, but my favorite for old-school charm has to be the Andrew Dickson White Library. (It looks like it's straight out of Harry Potter: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-a-d-white-library-ithaca-new-york.)
As I sit here with 17 library books on the counter behind me (and, admittedly, one that's two days overdue), I always think that libraries represent safe spaces, especially public libraries. Books, of course, in all their myriad forms, but social services and tax help, shelter from the elements for unhoused people and passages teeming with wide-eyed children, delighted (as I always am) that they can take these precious stories with them at no cost and explore worlds and times unknown. A library, more than a bookstore, is, like the TARDIS, bigger on the inside.
Hi-vis vest-man may need to visit the library and take out How to Win Friends and Influence People. Tap-tap-tap, indeed.
Sadly, my library system in Chattanooga does not have the Bevis book, and my owned TBR pile (which is too often ignored in favor of the library pile) is a little too high to warrant buying it right now, but I've added it to my wish list. But I'm intrigued as to how Bevis got so many library cars; in the US, in general, you have to be a resident of the city or county; if you reside outside of it, there's generally a fee, though Chattanooga's library system offers an alternative to the $50 annual fee for non-residents: 20 volunteer hours. Who wouldn't want to volunteer in a library?!
I'll see your The Worst Witch and Mrs. Frisby and raise you The Westing Game (or really anything by Ellen Raskin) and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. In fact, I may head to the library on Monday and pick up both to re-read during our off-week from Austen Connection over July 4th.
Meanwhile, have you read The Library Book by Susan Orleans? It's ostensibly about the investigation into the Los Angeles public library fire, but it makes these amazing circuitous forays into all-things-library, particular the history of libraries (and librarians) in the United States. It's a compelling behind-the-scenes read.
Julie, where to start! Thank you so much for sharing your life in libraries ❤️ The ADW library is stunning! I love that you worked at a library, I never have but I did set up the village phonebox library, pretty much so I could play at being a librarian although on a somewhat smaller scale! 😂☎️📚
I haven’t read your childhood favourites, although I have heard of Mrs Basil E through Dash & Lily, which I’m probably far too old for, but enjoy annually as it’s Christmas in New York with a side order of books! And thank you for the Susan Orleans reminder, that was on my wish list years ago and I’d forgotten all about it! Imagine if it’s waiting under O when I get that far through the alphabet!
Oh, no! The idea that the late, great Ellen Raskin never made it across the pond is going to break my heart. Every reader should read AT LEAST The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) and The Westing Game, though there are many other under appreciated works. And based on your reference to The Worst Witch, you might enjoy E. L. Konigsburg's early and FAR lesser known Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth.
Just as the WWI vets with shell shock were prescribes Austen to calm their nerves, I find (in these uncertain — more so on my side of the world — times), 60s and 70s YA to be extremely calming. Happy rest of the weekend!
Thank you so much for the recommendations! Nothing more soothing than a kids classic ❤️
I loved reading this. I have wonderful library memories too. I am still an avid library user. I do sometimes rush in and out, just snatching up my reservations, but am also a browser. I have found that spending 30 minutes in a library often puts to bed that need to buy books!
Thanks Emma ❤️ Glad to hear you’re another library lover with a stack of library stories. It sounds like you’ve got a better balance going on and I love the notion that a good browse delays a splurge!
I’m a fellow library-loving nerd, so it was a joy to read, Claire, thank you.
Thanks Anna! I had a lot of fun writing this one as you can probably tell! The whole taking things slower vibe lent itself to a very meandering story! 😂 Here’s to library-loving nerds (I feel like we need badges 🤔😂)
Library super-fan here! It's funny, our local library is running it's annual children's summer book club event and it sent me meandering down memory lane back to when I was taking part in those book clubs...I would walk down the library every day (or cycle, because that got me to the books faster!) and I inhaled book after book after book, checking off the little chart way faster than was probably intended. *wistful sigh*.
I'm also guilty of the click-and-collect library use these days....also for the same reason as you, because I'm not to be trusted and have no self-control. I'm terribly greedy when let loose in the stacks. Still, you've given me something to think about....and also maybe I need to make up my own summer reading club for myself this year. xo
I love that Mel! It was such a treat to be able to do your bookish thing and be appreciated by the librarians for it!
Also glad to hear you resonate with what I’m saying. It’s absolutely those competing forces of trying not to borrow too many but still making some room for a little more spur of the moment choosing.
I love the idea of recreating your summer book club haze and just going for it, knowing you can rein it back in when ‘school’s back’. Keep me posted!