Decent human beings thrive on the books and the economy and the stillness and the sacred nature that breathes in the eager open pockets of endless curiousity encaptured within the walls of life's literary hamlet...untold adoration decent humans harbor for the infinite resources and lives and dreams living inside the walls of the almighty. public. LIBRARY. That hallowed majesty built for the palace of the mind, a fantasyland, why what childhood is complete without seering and constant exposure to the endless thrills of its imagination, to its books, and to whatever else may lie inside.
I like books, I like a lot of books, I really really like book stores, but spit on me now, I hate the library! I'm taking Jimmy tomorrow because it's the right thing to do, but I get so stressed out by the stuffiness, the shhhhshing, the deafening stuffy stuffy silence, the pious attitudes of some librarians, the mean overdue notices, the stuffy stuffy rules, the vilification of cookie crumbs, but nothing gets me more than the SMELL of all those used musty books. For as long as I can remember I've been allergic to the odoroma of each and every library, whatever it is that they all exhale and hover all over...even when I'm home library books give me the biggest headache and as much as I'd love to be progressive or meek or ecosavvy or on NPR, the library will have to win.
At the thought, a migraine already brews...but I think Jimmy will like it. Wish us luck!
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Sharrow
3 weeks ago
5 comments:
I, too, prefer the fresh sterility of the mega book stores. ;) I suck it up and expose Spawn to the many public libraries and expound on the Dewey Decimal System, but our visits are brief because the librarians are so snotty and overbearing about kids not losing the puzzle pieces on the kiddie table in the kids section. If it's such a damn problem, why don't they just get rid of the toys and puzzles? I'd rather they weren't there to entice Spawn in the first place so I don't have to go fishing for every puzzle piece and stray Lego that's fallen between the shelves and racks! >:( Sorry, hot button topic for me, I guess. ;)
Oh gawd, now I'm even more nervous!!!! But thankful I'm not alone. =D
Here's where our taste diverge... I lurv libraries! Some more than others, but I generally enjoy being in them.
I still think of the one in Urbana, IL with a nostalgic twinge -- it would seriously make me consider moving back there, just for the warm coziness of the kids room, their extensive romance collection, their cushy bean bag chairs scattered in random aisles throughout the turn-of-the-century building -- usually with a sleeping person sprawled out on each one.
My local library is more modern and slightly less comfy, but -- luckily for me -- has wonderful librarians that aren't the pruny, pinch-nosed grannies that give you ladies such a hard time at your respective Houses of Books.
Which is not to say that I don't love me a good bookstore. :)
Eileen
I seem to recall another young mother who used to tote her three beautiful rather active wee ones off to the library or better yet the book store. Her love for all things literary,her wit and humor determination and heroism lives on!
I'm with ya, I hate the library. My kids have been a couple times, but I much prefer having a purchased book of my own. And the smell of the book store is so much better than the stanky library. ;-)
Hope your visit went well!
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