Borrowing Books

[poliphilo]

I haven't been to the town library for years. In fact last time I went it was housed in a completely different building. The old library was Victorian and full of people who didn't wash (sorry, that sounds snobbish and I suppose it is). The new library is full of daylight and bright, young, unemployed men sitting at computer terminals; also it seems to contain fewer books- not that I counted. 

It was Ailz's idea that we should join again. I was sort of dragging my feet. I remembered the old library as a depressing place- the sort of place that used to give me a migraine. But I'm glad I let her win.  It's delicious to go round picking odd things off the shelves. It's not like going to the bookshop- where budget restrictions mean you have to pick and choose with extreme care. Instead you can be promiscuous, daring, irresponsible. I wound up with a graphic novel by Alan Moore, a biography of the Victorian spirit medium Daniel Dunglas Home, a big Taschen picture book about Luis Bunuel, and a pamphlet by the poet Geoffrey Hill. If I don't like them I can whizz  them all back and replace them- as indeed I shall whether I like them or not. I used to have this rather grim thing about wanting to own every book I liked; not any more; I've worked out- and it's taken me long enough- that I can't take them with me.

Comments

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

After all the moving I have done, I have learned the lesson well. You cannot take them with you. They're heavy and hard to maintain on journeys around the world. Best to borrow and set them free again to change others' lives as they did yours.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I still own lots and lots and lots of books. I've had several- often drastic- clearouts, but as soon as I empty a shelf it fills up again.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I wish you lived down the street so I could come over for tea and nose around your books!