Comments on: A love song to libraries http://writerunboxed.com/2008/07/16/a-love-song-to-libraries/ about the craft and business of fiction Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:09:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: adele geras http://writerunboxed.com/2008/07/16/a-love-song-to-libraries/#comment-77099 adele geras Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:21:43 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/07/16/a-love-song-to-libraries/#comment-77099 I also am a library junkie! I have a two branch libraries very near me and used to visit one or other of them DAILY especially when my children were younger. There's a lot of cutting of library budgets and jobs over here in the UK which is just terrible and which is being fought by as many of us as possible. Good to see an article like this....I will pass on the link! I also am a library junkie! I have a two branch libraries very near me and used to visit one or other of them DAILY especially when my children were younger. There’s a lot of cutting of library budgets and jobs over here in the UK which is just terrible and which is being fought by as many of us as possible. Good to see an article like this….I will pass on the link!

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]]> By: Thea http://writerunboxed.com/2008/07/16/a-love-song-to-libraries/#comment-77005 Thea Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:26:48 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/07/16/a-love-song-to-libraries/#comment-77005 what a lovely, beautifully written, essay. thank you, sophie. what a lovely, beautifully written, essay. thank you, sophie.

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]]> By: K. Prescott http://writerunboxed.com/2008/07/16/a-love-song-to-libraries/#comment-76998 K. Prescott Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:59:39 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/07/16/a-love-song-to-libraries/#comment-76998 My first library was in the spare room in the house I grew up in. My Dad had grown up on a farm where books were rare and precious. The first thing he did when he got out of the Navy and got a job, was to buy a set of the best encyclopedias he could get his hands on (Encyclopedia Brittanica). It was a huge investment, considering his financial situation. He said that, more than anything else, he wanted his child to grow up with books to read. I taught myself to read at the age of three, and soon graduated from Little Golden Books to the encyclopedias and a set of Reader's Digest Condensed Books (many of which were probably inappropriate for my age) before I was introduced to the wonders of the bookmobile, school library, and the public library. My maternal grandmother, age 85, still speaks with awe about the first time she saw the reading room at Berea College when she was 15. She also grew up on a farm where the reading material was limited to the family Bible and a subscription to Progressive Farmer (which was more than most people in the area had). She couldn't imagine a room filled with books, and that was before she found out there was a library also at the college that was even bigger. When I talk to my father and grandmother, I realize how blessed I have been to have such access to reading material and education. The drive of an intelligent person deprived by circumstances, and the joy they find in just having access to reading material humbles me. It also makes me impatient with people who neither appreciate nor care about the priviliges they were born to. How many people have had access to books their whole lives, and still disdain to read for pleasure? My first library was in the spare room in the house I grew up in. My Dad had grown up on a farm where books were rare and precious. The first thing he did when he got out of the Navy and got a job, was to buy a set of the best encyclopedias he could get his hands on (Encyclopedia Brittanica). It was a huge investment, considering his financial situation. He said that, more than anything else, he wanted his child to grow up with books to read.

I taught myself to read at the age of three, and soon graduated from Little Golden Books to the encyclopedias and a set of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books (many of which were probably inappropriate for my age) before I was introduced to the wonders of the bookmobile, school library, and the public library.

My maternal grandmother, age 85, still speaks with awe about the first time she saw the reading room at Berea College when she was 15. She also grew up on a farm where the reading material was limited to the family Bible and a subscription to Progressive Farmer (which was more than most people in the area had). She couldn’t imagine a room filled with books, and that was before she found out there was a library also at the college that was even bigger.

When I talk to my father and grandmother, I realize how blessed I have been to have such access to reading material and education. The drive of an intelligent person deprived by circumstances, and the joy they find in just having access to reading material humbles me. It also makes me impatient with people who neither appreciate nor care about the priviliges they were born to. How many people have had access to books their whole lives, and still disdain to read for pleasure?

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]]> By: Kathleen Bolton http://writerunboxed.com/2008/07/16/a-love-song-to-libraries/#comment-76988 Kathleen Bolton Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:07:40 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/07/16/a-love-song-to-libraries/#comment-76988 I love libraries too. As a kid, the "good" library (the big one, not the bookmobile) was waaaay across town, but my mom would take us there faithfully every Saturday and we'd load up. It's a source of joy that my own kid loves the library too. I love the way her face lights up when we tell her we're going there. There really is something magical about them. I love libraries too. As a kid, the “good” library (the big one, not the bookmobile) was waaaay across town, but my mom would take us there faithfully every Saturday and we’d load up.

It’s a source of joy that my own kid loves the library too. I love the way her face lights up when we tell her we’re going there.

There really is something magical about them.

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