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Summer love
Jun. 20th, 2007 01:51 pmI love the library. Have since I was a little girl. Super bookstores were not a thing when I was growing up, although we did have a few great independent bookstores like Vroman's (where I worked for awhile as a young adult) Even so, books cost money - which we didn't have a lot of growing up. So being the avid bookworm that I was, the library was heaven to me. There was the Altadena Public Library tucked away in the trees. Shady and quiet and always delightfully cold. The decor at the time was very 70's ... burnt orange carpet, brown overstuffed chairs, sunken areas to walk down into and get lost in a book. They had a maximum number of books that you could check out - a rule they bent for me because I would go through books so fast that I was there practically every other day.
There was one of the Pasadena public libraries on Washington close to my elemenary school. It was very refined - a medium size Georgian style buidling of brick and tall windows, hard wood floors and chairs of wood and leather. I would sit in the window there, soaking in the sun and happy to be in the air conditioning. It was there I first learned about book reports and what the hell plagiarism meant. (Thank you Mrs. Bickel my 5th grade teacher for giving me a second chance on telling you about Amelia Earhart).
Then there was the main branch of the Pasadena Library, a place so grand and impressive that it actually was the setting for a Stephen King short story from his Four Past Midnight Book called "The Library Police". This place was like a church for me. The entry way was all dark, inlaid mediterranean wood and arches into many different rooms. It was always quiet. Like no one ever talked in there ... which wasn't true, but it was a place that you didn't want to raise your voice above a whisper. And you had to earn the right to check out certain books from that branch. Something I aspired to early on as a small child and then got to do before I was even a teen. The reference books were kept in a separate room and they all were beautiful, quality books bound in leather and brought to you by a librarian.
I spent many of my summers in the library, happily lost in a book while my friends were away on summer vacations or playing somewhere. I wasn't lonely ... not if I had a book. And the world was not ever too boring, not if the library was open. It was like be welcomed into the house of a friend.
Now I take my children to the library. With it's muted grays and whites and blues and the windows in the roof that bring in the sun and light. It's a friendly open place. Welcoming to families, adults & students. The kids run off to their sections while I get a little time to peruse whatever strikes my fancy. We spent a happy hour this morning each lost in our own happy place finding books that appeal to our inner fancies. I am happy to have passed this love of the library on to my own children.
This particular summer love goes on and on and on.
There was one of the Pasadena public libraries on Washington close to my elemenary school. It was very refined - a medium size Georgian style buidling of brick and tall windows, hard wood floors and chairs of wood and leather. I would sit in the window there, soaking in the sun and happy to be in the air conditioning. It was there I first learned about book reports and what the hell plagiarism meant. (Thank you Mrs. Bickel my 5th grade teacher for giving me a second chance on telling you about Amelia Earhart).
Then there was the main branch of the Pasadena Library, a place so grand and impressive that it actually was the setting for a Stephen King short story from his Four Past Midnight Book called "The Library Police". This place was like a church for me. The entry way was all dark, inlaid mediterranean wood and arches into many different rooms. It was always quiet. Like no one ever talked in there ... which wasn't true, but it was a place that you didn't want to raise your voice above a whisper. And you had to earn the right to check out certain books from that branch. Something I aspired to early on as a small child and then got to do before I was even a teen. The reference books were kept in a separate room and they all were beautiful, quality books bound in leather and brought to you by a librarian.
I spent many of my summers in the library, happily lost in a book while my friends were away on summer vacations or playing somewhere. I wasn't lonely ... not if I had a book. And the world was not ever too boring, not if the library was open. It was like be welcomed into the house of a friend.
Now I take my children to the library. With it's muted grays and whites and blues and the windows in the roof that bring in the sun and light. It's a friendly open place. Welcoming to families, adults & students. The kids run off to their sections while I get a little time to peruse whatever strikes my fancy. We spent a happy hour this morning each lost in our own happy place finding books that appeal to our inner fancies. I am happy to have passed this love of the library on to my own children.
This particular summer love goes on and on and on.
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