I grew up in a library. Instead of wallpaper, our living room décor was a wall-to-wall bookshelf. My Dad had each book perfectly lined up and inserted exactly one-half inch from the shelf line. If someone removed a book, it had to be replaced to the exact spot. To be sure, he would double-check with his tape measure.
It was ingrained in both me and my younger brother Maxwell that books must be treated like a best friend. One should always respect a book and never write inside the book or overforce it's binding. A read book should always look brand new.
I have followed these rules for most of my adult life and came to appreciate the importance of books as I matured. I never wrote in a textbook until it became the norm in college and then only when the book was used with some prior writing in its margins.
To this day I am an avid reader and book. I can get lost for hours in the rows of books at a bookstore or local library. I agree with my dad that books are like best friends. A good book can entertain or broaden one’s perspectives on life. A good book can transport the reader to new places and ideas. There is nothing like reading a novel until the wee hours of the night because you can’t put it down. A beach read enhances any vacation and a cookbook brings memories of home meals to your sense. After finishing a book, it is great to share the content amongst friends, book clubs, and random people you see holding a copy while waiting in line for coffee at places such as a local Starbucks.
Perhaps this explains why I was so excited to see a part time position posted at my local library. I think this would be a dream job at this stage of my life and applied immediately. Although I don’t have library science skills, I have grown up amongst books my entire life. As a child I learned to respect and appreciate the physical book. As an adult, good content has been incorporated into everything I do.
Books have been a constant companion in my daily life. I read both for pleasure, education and self-help. I read fiction and non-fiction, eBooks and hard copy. A position at the library would allow me to be amongst the great writers of the world and readers who also share my love of books. I will share if I am considered for this position.
Wendy is a Realtor and freelance writer residing on Cape Cod. She recently published her first book, Coffee Connections: Finding Common Ground Through My Daily Brew. Wendy enjoys networking and writing to connect her ideas and curiosities with people she meets. She welcomes your comments.
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I grew up in a house of books. My Mom loved to read novels and human interest memoirs. My Dad loved history and had a vast collection of non-fiction and reference type books in our home. We were raised to respect books as our best friend.
We were taught to never bend a page or write in the margin. My Dad would never allow us to move a book from his library bookshelf unless it was put back in the exact spot and measured to be an inch away from the ledge in perfect alignment with the other books. It was culture shock when I started college and saw my fellow classmates highlighting text books.
As children, my Mom would regularly bring us to the public library to take out children's books. She was a teacher and thus we were encouraged to read beyond our years. Once I learned to read I was eager to jump ahead a few grades in my reading selections. By the end of first grade I often challenged my teachers to allow me to go to a more advanced section of the school library (4th grade level books).
As I progressed through the years I was reading adult fiction and beyond by junior high. My Dad said I gravitated towards the "trash" books as I loved Harold Robbins and Sydney Sheldon. One favorite that stands out is "A Stone for Danny Fisher" by Harold Robbins.
I didn't enjoy non-fiction at that age because I associated this with reading text books or the stress of my Dad's book placement perfection. I wanted to be free to choose books that I wanted to read and perhaps this limited my progression in enjoying fine literature and history while I progressed through high school and college. At that stage in life this book genre was work for me. I wanted to find myself as I read.
Growing into adulthood, however, I have come to expand my reading interests. Seeing more of the world as an adult has increased my curiosity to a wider range of cultures and peoples. I have come to learn that non-fiction and historic novels teach me more about the real world and have helped to expand my horizons beyond where I physically live. My book wishlist has grown to include many historic novels, memoirs and personal development books.
I now acknowledge the deep influences my parents have had on my life and my reading habits and am excited to share more about this on a new podcast where I am the guest speaker.
I hope you will enjoy listening to this as much as I do. Please let me know and perhaps we can meet at Starbucks for coffee sometime to discuss the podcast and recent books we have read.
Wendy is a Realtor at Coldwell Banker Needham. In her free time she enjoys reading, traveling, walking her dog and theater. She is often reading at her local Starbucks in Needham or Mashpee Commons during the summer months.
