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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