Library Love

Saturday’s Errands by Bike (1/29/11)

This past weekend brought threats of rain, but Saturday turned into a beautiful day to be out and about on two wheels.  After lunch, I hopped on my bike and rode to campus to take care of something in the lab, then I rode across campus to the library, where I hunted for Anne Fadiman books, particularly Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader.  This book was recommended to me twice in one week: first by my dear friend a and then by Tania in her short list of good books to read.  a’s review of this book was enough to pique my interest, and a recommendation from my favorite style blogger (and fellow book lover) was enough to seal the deal.  Unfortunately, the library’s copy was checked out, so I put in a request for Ex Libris and instead checked out Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love, a collection of essays which was edited by Fadiman.  The topic sounds fascinating, as I am also a rereader.  I think it will be good bedtime reading.

Sometimes I’m amazed that I wound up as a professional scientist and not a writer.  I like to fancy myself a writer, especially now that I’ve stretched myself into two blogs, but I certainly don’t make my living as a writer.  I am reminded of how strange it is that I went the science route whenever I am in a library.  Libraries feel like home to me, familiar in concept but filled to the brim with the exotic, the unknown.  In a library, I feel that I both lose myself and find myself.  It’s a magical paradox.