Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Library Book


Published by Allen & Unwin - RRP $29.99

Reviewed by Maggie Rainey-Smith

This little book is a compendium of sorts, a gathering of short stories from mostly authors (24 of them), in praise of their local libraries.  It’s a charming publication, would fit easily into the smallest handbag as a delightful companion, one small essay at a time, over your morning coffee perhaps, or in the wine bar waiting for a friend.
                 A strong motivation for the stories is the prevailing political scene in the United Kingdom whereby local libraries are facing cutbacks, if not actual axing.   It is both light reading and profound and almost without exception, the formative years of each author’s life and their love of books, begins with their local library.
               Not all the names were familiar to me, but of course Alan Bennett, Caitlin Moran, Julian Barnes, Stephen Fry, Lionel Shriver, and Zadie Smith, did stand out somewhat.   They’ve all taken the time to respond to the title of this publication ‘The Library Book’ and it says on the back cover ‘this book is published in support of libraries, with all royalties going to the Reading Agency’s library programmes.’   A very good reason to buy the book or buy two copies and give one to a friend!    
               There is so much to enjoy and I don’t want to spoil the gems by revealing too much from the  this homage to ‘The Library Book’  a small hardback barely much larger than a decent sized hand, and filled with famous names talking about books – hard to overlook really.   But, here are a few quotes, to whet your appetite (although I sense a book like this sells itself).
               James Brown (created of Loaded magazine) rekindling his love of the library with his children “It was like being in Waterstones, but free’.
               Seth Godin (whom I’d never heard of before) and who is purported to be the most influential business blogger in the world, reckons that with the digital age, comes a huge opportunity for libraries and he describes a librarian as ‘producer, concierge, connector, teacher and impresario’, and ends saying ‘We need librarians more than we ever did.  What we don’t need are mere clerks who guard dead paper.”
               Val McDermid begins with this “I would not be a writer if it were not for the public library system”.   This is echoed by Ann Cleeves “Without the support of libraries, I wouldn’t be published today.”
               Stephen Fry talks about a rural childhood with the nearest public library a 12 mile bicycle ride into Norwich – every second Thursday the mobile library came to his street bringing with it, his introduction to Oscar Wilde “I read  “The Importance of Being Earnest’ three or four times a day, every day for two weeks.”
               I quite like this from Lionel Shriver ...  “Just try sauntering into a WHSmith shoving several books into your rucksack, and waltzing past security with a promise that you’ll bring them back.”And this, from Caitlin Moran “A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft and a festival.   They are cathedrals of the mind, hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination.”   And when she speaks of library closures due to cost cutting she has this to say “These libraries will be lost forever.  ...   And in their place, we will have a thousand more public spaces where you are simply the money in your pocket rather than the hunger in your heart.”
               There are endearing anecdotes about experiences in libraries and one of my favourites is from Hardeep Singh Kohli titled ‘The Punk and the Langside Library’ – he’s a young lad from an Indian immigrant family who claims his right to be Scottish when he meets a Punk in the library and they are both evicted for causing a disturbance.    There’s even a hilarious anecdote about the mobile library service being responsible for adultery!
               There is a theme throughout of libraries as a meeting place for all walks of life, a place of shelter too for drunks and vagrants (as long as they stay awake it seems), an egalitarian space in our communities,  unlike the mall to quote Caitlin Moran again ...  “shops – places where your money makes the wealthier, wealthy.  But a library is where the wealthy’s taxes pay for you to become a little more extraordinary instead.”
               I felt a kinship with many of the writers and their stories, some of them growing up in households that were not stocked with books, but whose parents went weekly to the library to take out books.   Our public library in Richmond was a red brick building that housed the local cinema, Council Chambers and stood in as the War Memorial in the early years.      I vividly recall the special pencil with the rubber stamp attached to it and the deft action of the librarian as she removed the cards and stamped them with the date of return.
               Many years later, when I was a volunteer at Arohata Prison working in the library bringing my love of literature to the women there, I had the thrill of stamping the books and writing the date of return on cards, because at that stage (and possibly still), the system was not fully computerised.  I loved too that you could see who read which books (and not for punitive or censorious reasons) but out of sheer delight at the intelligent and wide ranging reading of so many women.  In the library at Arohata, we were all equal, just readers who loved to read and to talk about books.
               Nowadays I am able to buy books, but I still love my local library and the new thrill of being part of a wider catchment area with my new SMART library card, meaning I can order a book from Masterton library (like I did recently when I couldn’t get a copy of ‘Mosaics’ by Michael Holroyd that my No.1 book club was reading). I ended up with the talking book delivered to Eastbourne – how extraordinary.     
               And too, the greatest thrill is Wednesday at 2.00 pm when my granddaughter and I go to story-time together at the Eastbourne Library.   Last week we listened to the story of a bird with only one wing who found another bird with only one wing – and then we made our own birds, with wings and tails to fly.    The librarian looked up at me and exclaimed, “Is that your granddaughter?”  Standing with us was my son, the father of my granddaughter, who had been an eight year old attending the same library when we first moved to this suburb, and I might add, with the same librarian.
               Most of us, who are readers, will have our own library stories.   This book will delight, amuse and sadden, because if the proposed cuts in library services are enacted in Britain, these stories will be just post-scripts to an era. 
 Footnote:

Maggie Rainey-Smith (right) is a Wellington writer and regular guest reviewer on Beattie's Book Blog. She is also Chair of the Wellington branch of the NZ Society of Authors.    
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