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Art Colony: mad props to libraries everywhere!
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
› by victoria
the best way to pass an evening, in my humble opinion, has to be a quiet evening of sitting and reading an EXTREMELY good book while the person with you is also reading another EXTREMELY good book so that you're both reading deliciously good books whilst drinking soda and sitting in front of a fan.
Here's mad props to all libraries, especially the Milwaukee Public Library system. I love everything about the library system. I love the central library and its beautiful building, and I love the East side library with its extremely late hours and totally retro design. I love the air conditioning and the quiet hum of the public library and the vast selection of juicy reading materials. The Shorewood library is the one I grew up at, although they destroyed my beloved old white-painted brick, bizarre ranch-style building around 2000. The old building was wonderful. I could re-create the whole thing from memory: the dark green berber carpeting, the children's room with its bay window and the 3 or 4 teal naugahyde cushions for kids to sit on, the crowded placement of all the adult books, the pink paint in the bathrooms, the payphone, the rotating book racks. Of course it wasn't big enough, but the new library that they built is in the early Jewel-Osco style of architecture and that drives me nuts. It's way soul-less compared to the old building... :sigh:
Anyways, here's mad props to libraries everywhere!
Here's to all the things that they enable you to do:
To zone out someplace without having to buy anything
To enjoy A/C in the summer or heat in the winter for free
To find a book you've been looking for a mega-long time
To check out tons and tons of good books
To research almost any topic you like
When Biff and I go to the library, we always have a really good time. I love summer reading riffs where you find a mother-lode of good books to read and recommend. He's currently engrossed in the Education of Robert Nifkin, one of my favorite Daniel Pinkwater books of all time. One of these days I just *have* to capitulate and buy it. It's hilarious, droll, offbeat, weird, and damn funny. Biff has been busting out into laughter throughout reading it. And I finished the first 2 books in this amazing series as well as started that bestselling FREAKONOMICS... reading can be so fun.
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