Jay Leno's Library Card?

A library is a very busy place.

In May of this year, the Los Angeles Public Library faced severe budget cuts. Jay Leno commented on his show that these cuts would effect all of 9 people.

To be blunt, what a jerk.

An LAPL Librarian remarked that these cuts were no laughing matter & that nearly 17 million people use the LAPL.

I learned about this incident in the most recent issue of American Libraries.

Maybe if Jay Leno went to a library to do some research to back up his comments, he would found out how many people work at the LAPL's; how many people use them.. depend on them.

Not everyone is middle or upper class and has cable television and internet in their homes. Not everyone can afford to go to the movies to see every new blockbuster hit. Not everyone chooses to, or can afford even if they wanted to, purchase every book they'd like to read.

Jay Leno, go get a library card, open your eyes, & LEARN something about the COMMUNITY CENTER you are about to mock. In my eyes, your stupidity is the only thing worth mocking.

Living in Books

At work today a library patron mentioned her anticipation about a certain novel, "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. I remarked about the size of it...the number of pages, it is just a hugely long book. She went on to say that she loved that!

"When a good well written long novel ends .." it made her sad, she "lived with those characters."

I thought this was amazing. Lovely. I completely agree. I still am daunted by 1,039,808 paged books (exaggeration) but I too love that connection that comes with characters, with their world.

How often I pick up a book and am enthralled.

When I finish a good book, I am sadden by the end of the journey. I often long for an author to pick up a new novel with former characters from a previous novel. Think of how the release of the last "Harry Potter" book effected it's followers. (The books are a million times better than the movies...but that is another blog post.)

I too feel such a connection to the characters & to their world...I wonder if there is a technical term for this feeling? This phenomenon? Yes, phenomenon. The deep connections that readers have with their favorite, or even just much enjoyed novels, is something amazing. What an awful aawful world we would live in without that spectacle.

How do you feel when you finish a book?

stars&lyrics,

readinglady

Book's choice

Everyone has different tastes in books. Working in a public library has made me become the personal librarian for a lot of my friends. Some of them read more than others. Often I'll recommend books I've read & like, or loved to them. Sometimes one friend will enjoy a certain book I did, then not enjoy a similar one.

The characteristics of the books A & B may be similar enough...but person 1, who enjoyed book A might not enjoy book B, despite the similarities.

Why? If they are all alike?

Well, they aren't really alike enough I guess. Or is it timing?

Have you ever picked up a book, put it down because it doesn't interest you...only to pick it back up months or years later?

The years part hasn't happened to me...mostly because I'm not old enough...the books I would have been reading 10 years would never appeal to me now. However, I have tried to read books that didn't work out at the time, only to work out later on.

So what does timing have to do with it? Do we choose the books? Or do the books choose us?

I often find traces of my own current life drama (lets face it, we all have a little bit of drama...it may be very different from our neighbor's...but it is there) in the book I am reading. Is this a coincidence? If so, of what sort? Do I see the similiarity between my life and those of the characters I'm reading about because I'm looking for it? Or is there some Librarian Reader's Adviosry God (L-RAG, I like it) who brings certain books to certain people at certain times? There is something comforting in that... that we are reading these books to learn, to see, to hope, to experience a life that can influence ours in some way, even if it is fictionalized.

I feel quite confident in my own reading choices. I would like to think it is in my own hands...but, I don't know...maybe not. What do you think? Is there an L-RAG following you through your public library's stacks?

stars&lyrics,

readinglady

p.s. I would totally be an L-RAG in another life if I could.