Revisiting a "vintage" thing...the Library

My latest read!

I just closed the book I've been reading...the last page~goodbye.  It was good... suspenseful, dangerous, but a love story...I'd say not my typical read.  

I checked the book out of the New Virginia Library.  We've been frequenting it here lately; tiring of the expense of buying books...of which I will still do for my own library.  I've often thought, through the years that I should go to the library for books, but just didn't do it.  I shall do it more often now.  

As a young girl, my mom would take us to the library all of the time.  I can still picture it in my mind.  I think it's still there...it should be!  If I remember correctly, it was rather new at that time.  It'd be considered "vintage" now.  But, "vintage" makes it even better in my mind.  There is just something about a library that makes it special to me.  Volumes and volumes of history, story telling, fact and fiction.  Rows and rows of shelving, standing end to end like soldiers.  

On my shelves

Many a class history paper was written after spending hours at the library looking at an encyclopedia...what an old fashion thing...even for me.  I love Google and use it often.  But, whenever I run across an old encyclopedia, atlas book or history in pictures book...I have to take a minute to touch it, feel it, even smell it.  I've purchased many. There.is.nothing.like.it.  

Just one of my bookshelves

I LOVE books~the reading of them, the look, the feel of them in my hand...even their scent.  Some are more comfortable than others.  Their size can be cumbersome or comfortable.  You can tell the age of a book just by it's scent.  The yellowing of the pages adds to the charm.  I've even started designing with them, the ones that have been forgotten, mistreated, damaged.  

I am a book and magazine junkie. I've tried to get my fix on the internet...but, it's just not the same.  I truly am sickened by the thought of a bookstore closing and how horrifying if a library would close.  This alone is reason enough for me to support my local library...both in reading and donating.  

I sat in the library at our high school a couple of months ago for a meeting and it felt so good to be there.  A place of peace and plenty for me as a young girl...I was taken back to my school days and the memories made there.  I don't know where my earliest love of books came from.  Maybe from being read a Little Golden Book as a wee one.  My youngest daughter found some of them at a resale shop a while ago...ones she remembers from her childhood and she bought them; for her niece and new little ones to come... maybe her own children some day.  

I find it so lovely that now, for baby showers, so much of the time, books are given in lieu of a card.  The giver writes a little note on the inside and signs it. What a terrific way to start a library for ones own.  The tradition and timeworn sensibility is continued for generations to come.  I can picture my grandchildren's chubby little hands holding them, bringing them to their mommy, daddy, grandpa or me for a little cuddle and reading time. I want them to love books...the reading of them, the look, the feel of them in their hand...even their scent.