Wednesday 9 February 2011

𐌎 turn the page

when I was a child, we visited a
library in Westcliff-on-Sea:
single storey, yellow brick & steel framed:
glass fronted and designed by
P F Burridge in 1968:
skipping across the floor to the 
children's section:
choosing books from the shelves:
thumbing through the heavy reference books:
not for borrowing, only for looking:
that smell of books:
zigzagging coloured spines:
sitting in the courtyard in the Summer:
despite owning a few books 
some given
some gifts
we still used a library:

now I have something else:
my next novel will be read on it:
is this the new library?
it won't be for me:
reading books is not about owning books:
and I do own many:
those first visits to the library introduced me to
the wider world of literature:
picture books, atlases, poetry:
books we could never afford to buy:
they are all still there:
and more ....
have you got a ticket?
when was the last time you went to the library?
use it or lose it:

4 comments:

  1. I last visited the library today:-) I returned "Comfort & Joy" by India Knight, and "Skinny Bitch", and took out a couple of ghost stories.

    Manfred and I have visited most Saturday mornings of our entire married life. Free books, what a wonderful resource. A few years ago, when my mum was alive but housebound, I used to come and choose her 14 LARGE PRINT crime novels every week. I had to get out the maximum of 14 because she had invariably read a good half of the books I chose!

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  2. Sadly, libraries here are nothing like UK ones. Basically, they are crap.
    I miss not having one terribly. Treasure them, use them and appreciate them.
    I'm afraid collecting the real, physical book is a great joy for me, as is the reading, page turning, bookmarking and smelling. I can't imagine a day when this luddite will enjoy reading a kindle!

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  3. that's good to hear Louisa:
    I use mine for Art or pattern books mainly as they are so expensive to buy:
    it's easy to find information online but often the images are too small:

    I was in dilemma over the Kindle {was a gift}:
    for me it will be only for novels:
    my bookshelves are full to heaving so only the selective are squeezed in:

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  4. My ol' nan lived round the corner in Fleetwood so we nipped in a bit when visting. Although my childhood library is Hadleigh, and walking on the cobbles/stones at the end always made me think of the bumps on Lincoln biscuits.

    I've got still got a Topsy and Tim book from there, due back 1971.

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