Please welcome author Alexandra Bullen to GreenBeanTeenQueen! Alex is so lucky because she gets to live on Martha's Vineyard year round! (I spent a semester there and it was wonderful!) Today she's sharing about her little island library-and if this post doesn't make you want to go visit a library, I don't know what will!:)
Library Love
I live on an island. It’s a fairly big island, but the winter population is so tiny and close-knit that every time I leave the house, I’m certain to bump into somebody I know. This is especially true if I’m headed to the library – and more often than not, I am.
I have always loved the quiet of libraries. It’s the quality of the quiet that I love most– focused, reverent, curious, calm. But it wasn’t until I moved here, to this island, and found my way to the local public library, that I began to understand how encompassing a space a library can be.
Here, the library is the center of town. It’s a bus stop after school. It’s meeting new friends in the checkout line, and keeping up with emails from the old ones. It’s a mismatched collection of comfy chairs, a spiral staircase to the children’s room and the many adventures inside. It’s story time in the mornings, book groups in the afternoon, helpful hints and readings lists. It’s book people, movie people, research people, people stopping by. Good people with good questions and more good people with the answers.
Last year, when my first book, Wish, came out, we had a little party. Students took the bus and we sat around a table and talked about what it’s like to write a book. I read a bit, we had some snacks, I answered questions. It was casual, and when the allotted hour or so was up, I thanked everyone for coming. I walked to the door and expected others to do the same, but nobody was leaving. The small crowd dispersed to various sections, some downstairs, some to computers, some to kneel down at the stacks by the tables, quietly searching for new titles to love.
That’s the thing about libraries – you go for one reason and end up staying for another, often for much longer than you’d planned. There’s just so much to do – and so many good people to accidentally see.
Thanks Alex! I wish I could head back to Martha's Vineyard-you make the library sound so wonderful!
Be sure to visit Alex's blog and check out her new book, Wishful Thinking!
Library Love
I live on an island. It’s a fairly big island, but the winter population is so tiny and close-knit that every time I leave the house, I’m certain to bump into somebody I know. This is especially true if I’m headed to the library – and more often than not, I am.
I have always loved the quiet of libraries. It’s the quality of the quiet that I love most– focused, reverent, curious, calm. But it wasn’t until I moved here, to this island, and found my way to the local public library, that I began to understand how encompassing a space a library can be.
Here, the library is the center of town. It’s a bus stop after school. It’s meeting new friends in the checkout line, and keeping up with emails from the old ones. It’s a mismatched collection of comfy chairs, a spiral staircase to the children’s room and the many adventures inside. It’s story time in the mornings, book groups in the afternoon, helpful hints and readings lists. It’s book people, movie people, research people, people stopping by. Good people with good questions and more good people with the answers.
Last year, when my first book, Wish, came out, we had a little party. Students took the bus and we sat around a table and talked about what it’s like to write a book. I read a bit, we had some snacks, I answered questions. It was casual, and when the allotted hour or so was up, I thanked everyone for coming. I walked to the door and expected others to do the same, but nobody was leaving. The small crowd dispersed to various sections, some downstairs, some to computers, some to kneel down at the stacks by the tables, quietly searching for new titles to love.
That’s the thing about libraries – you go for one reason and end up staying for another, often for much longer than you’d planned. There’s just so much to do – and so many good people to accidentally see.
Thanks Alex! I wish I could head back to Martha's Vineyard-you make the library sound so wonderful!
Be sure to visit Alex's blog and check out her new book, Wishful Thinking!
oh I totally wish my library was like that.
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That sounds so lovely! There's something to be said about close-knit communities.
ReplyDeleteOooh! I love the Vineyard...we go out once a year in the fall. So pretty. I am heartily envious that she lives there year round. *sigh*
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