Imagine a library where there are no parking problems, no late fees, no library cards, no restrictions on the number of books you can take out, where it is open 24/7 (even on Federal Holidays), and where you can do your laundry....WHAT!??
When I moved into the condo, I had terrible problems with the tumble dryer. One of the residents mentioned that whilst I was waiting for the spare part to arrive, I could always use the washing machine and tumble drier provider by the condo association. Overjoyed, I asked where the machines were and was told, 'Oh, they're easy to find - they're in the library!' I thought at first that she was pulling my leg (you know, rather like the one where they insist on putting CORN in a Shepherd's Pie), but I thought I would go along with the joke, gathered up my stray socks, and a shirt or two and headed to the underground garage (yes, the WHOLE basement is one hangar-sized - heated in winter - secure garage).
I walked past an elevator shaft, turned a corner, and there it was! The first sign to meet my eyes was not 'Please Shelve Your Books' or 'Four Books Maximum' or even 'Quiet Please!', no it was, 'Please Clean Dryer Filter When Done With The Dryer. Thank You.'
The stackable washing machine and dryer occupy on a small corner of a room which measures approximately 10 feet by 12 feet. As you can see, there is a small table, a reading lamp and a couple of chairs. Amazingly, there is logic to the way the books are arranged. On the left-hand wall there are hardbacks, arranged by authors, 'A to Z'; fiction and non-fiction are mixed together - no Dewey decimal system here folks, but if you know the name of your favorite author, you are in with a chance. The wall opposite the entrance door marks the start of the paperbacks, again arranged alphabetically, and these continue onto the third wall, when there is a sudden change!
We now hit some 'specialist' sections; one contains books on art/art history, a second on travel, and a third on medicine/social science - all these subject areas contain a mixture of both paperback and hardback titles. I suppose that these would be subjects which would appeal to a reading population which comprises of mostly of seniors who a) have a liberal arts education b) have some medical problems and c) who like to travel - even if b) now means they can only do this from their favorite armchair!
As you would expect, the place is filled with 'easy reading', in the form of popular fiction. John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Patricia Cornwell, Dick Francis, and Frederick Forsythe are all well-represented, some with many titles. However, I was delighted to find a strong strain of biography; Lady Antonia Fraser's masterpiece 'Mary Queen of Scots', and her 'Warrior Queens' are there, as is 'The Fords:An American Epic' by Peter Collier and David Horowitz, a sweeping narrative of three generations of American industrial history. I was well pleased to see works by Mikhail Gorbachev ('Perestroika:New Thinking For Our Country And The World') and Vaclav Havel ('Disturbing The Peace') covering the turbulence of the post-Soviet era, as well as classics such as 'All The President's Men', Woodward and Bernstein, and 'No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II', a work which won the Pulitzer Prize for local author Doris Kearns Goodwin. A very unusual, but rewarding work with local connections, is 'The Wyeths: The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945', N.C Wyeth, edited by Betsy James Wyeth. This Needham artist and illustrator produced some of the most stirring illustrations for classic fiction that I have seen. I can see now, in my mind's eye, his fabulous plates for 'Treasure Island' (the 1911 edition, which unfortunately was lost in the wreck, not of the 'Hispaniola', but of my divorce settlement!)
I was delighted to find 'old friends' such as Al Franken ('Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them') and Douglas Reeman ('H.M.S. Saracen'); I regard Reeman as every bit as masterful at spinning a maritime tale as C.S Forester, Alistair MacLean and Nicholas Monsarrat. However, I must report that that there were one or two 'misses' to go along with these 'hits'. I do not think that I will be bothering with 'The Age Of Turbulence' by Alan Greenspan, for example.
I thoroughly enjoy the idea that I can, if necessary, stroll downstairs in the middle of the night, during a raging Nor'easter, (if I'm bored with the several thousand old-fashioned, 'turn-the-pages' books that I own - reactionary that I am), and choose something different, something that has been donated for the general weal by another individual.
Oh, and I can confidently state that there is ONE book that will remain FIRMLY on the shelf. The title? It is a slim volume by Ted Frier & Larry Overlan - 'Time For Change - The Return Of The Republican Party In Massachusetts' !!
I must also report that my socks were dry almost before I knew it..................
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