My Reading Deprivation Week opened up a lot of doors and windows for me, getting me out of the house, bringing new people into my life, re-awakening old enthusiasms. Not that I've given up reading entirely, but I needed to correct an imbalance that had me spending whole days with my nose in a book. Escapism. Pick up an interesting novel and it becomes a slippery slope. My name is 1st Mate and I'm a reading addict.I am nothing if not inconsistent. Two weeks ago I did not permit myself to read a single book. Today I began my new career as a volunteer librarian.
Imagine! A singing librarian, like Marian in "The Music Man!" (This is Barbara Cook, who won a Tony for that role in 1957.)
I'm still reading, but I'm going for quality instead of quantity. I want to discover unfamiliar authors and genres and be more knowledgeable about what's available. That's what I admire about Sue--she can make reading recommendations off the top of her head. She seems to have read everything!
Here in Mexico we don't always have access to the newest books, but because of the nature of San Carlos, the many gringos who pass through here leave a bounty of reading material. There are exchange libraries all over the marina area especially, and from October to May, we have our own well-stocked lending library, where I propose to educate myself.
Meet Pat and Sue, volunteer librarians, and my mentorsIt's not just a matter of getting books back on the shelves like it is in the typical three-shelf book exchange. This is a two-room library. We separate by genre, look for duplicates or "dupes" as there's no space for more than one copy of a book, so we cull those out and send them elsewhere. We have to decide what's mystery, historical fiction, classic fiction, Western, sci-fi, how-to, self-help, and what goes into the category of General Fiction. Boring, you might say, but this is the best part, because we examine each book except the obvious, like Stephen King or Louise L'Amour. So this is where I get a chance to find new authors. Each genre has its own colored sticker, so it only has to be examined once, and from then on it's easy to shelve.
Those dupes go to exchange libraries at the marina laundromat and the bathrooms, or to the local animal advocate group which has a terrific book sale every year (you pick out what you want, and then pay what you want, such a deal!)One hazard faces the library that could eventually destroy it: termites are creeping in through the wooden supports and shelves, and they like books as well as wood. Years from now, Sue says in resignation, everything will probably crumble to dust except the cedar furniture. But by then, maybe books will all be digital, who knows?