for the love of books

If you know me even remotely well, you know that I love to read. magazines, books, newspapers, billboards. If there are words on it, I'll read it. So of course when my mom sent me this quote I had to share it:

"For books are more than books, they are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men lived and worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives."--Gene Fowler (1890-1960), American journalist, author and dramatist

I grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which is now known as the city that flooded in 2008. I haven't been back to see the damage yet (next weekend) but I'm sure it will be unreal. Personally one of the saddest losses is the downtown library. My mom tells me that they weren't able to save any of the books on the first floor, which included all adult fiction and non-fiction. It's possible that they won't even rebuild the library there. I can't imagine Cedar Rapids without that building. How many hours did I spend there as a child. I was such a bookworm that I can remember summer afternoons when a friend and I would beg my mom to take us to the library for the afternoon. We would come home with stacks of books (from Babysitter's Club, to horse books, Nancy Drew mysteries to gymnastics series) these books painted the days of my summers. As soon as school was out for the summer I couldn't wait to get signed up for the summer reading program and begin carefully filling out each book that I read. I seriously think I read 100 books this summer. Granted they were short, but this summer I'll be doing good if I read 5! Those were the days.

I can remember graduating to the adult fiction section and delving into the fatter (300+) page sagas. Sometimes my friend and I would ask for headphones and squeeze into one of the movie viewing booths because watching a movie at the library was so much cooler than watching it at home. I remember the huge curving staircase that led to the kids' section upstairs. I can still picture the reading corners with their colorful beanbags and pillows for lounging on.

They have to rebuild it. Even if it's not in the same place, you can't have a city or a town without a library. Where else can kids start to dream about other worlds and discover adventure and triumph love and despair?

OK, so I'm getting a little sappy and sentimental now, but that library really was a significant part of my childhood.