If you need me, I'll be in the library
Libraries, an amazing comic book and my favourite bird the robin!
Morning everyone!
Hope you have had a fantastic week.
Here, work has continued in the garden- and there is some life in the pond! Small invertebrates and larvae, but also pond snails!
This week’s newsletter is a very special one all about libraries-so here’s a few little vignettes about this most important of places.
Let’s grab a cuppa and take 5 minutes to focus on the little things! ☕
If you need me, I’ll be in the library
Home
Regular trips to the library there were the backbone of my childhood. We would go after school, Pops picking me up and driving us there. Here I would pore over the children’s section while Pops would create his own pile for him and Grandma to bring home. Those trips fuelled my reading habits, providing endless books for me to devour.
I remember my favourite librarian who would always chat to me, I remember asking for Horrid Henry books before they got big (oh yeah, I’m the coolest) and, already dreaming of becoming a writer, I remember going to my first author talk for kids by children’s author Paul May. Their book called ‘Green Fingers’ still holds a really visceral memory with me.
The Summer Reading Challenge each year was an important part of the library tradition and, when I was home for the summers from my MA, I volunteered at the library too, listening to kids talk about the books they’ve read, either hiding behind parents and slowly coming out of their shell over the weeks, or talking manically about their favourite bits, wanting to tell you everything.
That place will always be my home.
Keele
The library was my study place. When my life had been flipped upside down going to university 4 hours away from home, I struggled to adapt for a while. The routine of getting up early each morning and spending the days in the library surrounded by books was my solace.
One of my favourite seats was by the English section. Large glass windows round the back of the building opened up onto bushes and shrubs before the small road going through campus. Often I’d see a robin right there, picking through the undergrowth. That little connection with nature was what I needed, if at times slightly distracting me from essay writing.
It didn’t matter that much of the library were books I couldn’t compute or understand. What it had was that feeling of calm, that quiet punctuated with page turning and quiet keyboard tapping. When everything else was loud, my brain needed the library.
Coventry
I was away from libraries for a while. Bar a brief trip into the library in Newcastle-under-Lyme for a writing excursion, a pandemic happened and so I didn’t really realise how much I was missing them.
Then I found my way back, after a book on freelancing the library had on system. I didn’t realise how much I’d missed libraries.
I got myself a library card again. A simple object that felt so right and walking into the building for the first time felt like a warm hug.
Then, earlier this year, I was doing a free novel writing course with a suggested reading list. Of course, being the nerd I am, I went and got them all. One wasn’t even in the Coventry library system so I took wonderful bus trips down to Kenilworth just to go get the other book on the list. The pile sitting in my house filled me with joy. My flat is always filled with books, to the extent that one day they may just take over, but seeing a library pile right there too? It just reminded me of my pile of library books as a kid on the arm of the sofa that I would read in advert breaks, a skill I wish I still had.
Now, I go do my writing work in the library too. It is my new quiet refuge to go into with just a hint of people watching. I love seeing the variety of people using the library, for reading, for meetings, for working, for activities. Often, I even get serenaded by the under 5s Rhyme Time.
Libraries are community and solace. For me, they’re a quiet refuge amongst the busyness.
We must protect them.
Bonus Fun Library Fact!
Fun thing I learnt recently- Borrowbox is a fantastic service where you can download library ebooks and audiobooks for free to your phone to read/listen to on the go!
I’ve been trying audiobooks over the past couple of months-maybe I’ll write something about that experience soon.
What I’ve been reading
The Weird and Wonderful Surviveries of Squid Horse by The Mollusc Dimension
I was recently lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this comic book and I absolutely adored it- read the full review
Containing 37 short stories, the comic book covers everything from mental health and grief, to sexual violence and growing up in the 80s and 90s as British-born Chinese artist.
It’s beautiful, emotional, surreal and full of honesty and warmth.
Whether you love comic books and graphic novels, or have never tried one before, this is a fantastic book you need in your collection.
Perfect for anyone who likes:
📚 Books filled with honesty and heart
📚 Comic books and graphic novels, or wants to try something new
📚 Wonderful surrealism and non-human characters
And finally….a weird animal fact!
Robins all have a unique red breast!
We all know robins for their red breast, but each is completely unique, just like the stripes on a zebra.
Why not see if you can learn your garden regulars?
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed-let me know what you think, and what you’d like to see in future editions. If you know someone else who would like it, please share and let’s grow the newsletter!
Can’t wait to hear from you, and have a great day! ☀️
Libraries were a vital part of my childhood, and have remained an important part of my life now. I reserve books, belong to a library book group and give talks there. They are so important. I didn't know that about the robin's breast - thank you!