Today has been a banner day at the carnival freak show that is public librarianship. There is the usual cavalcade of unbrushed and grooming optional patrons that is more extreme on certain days. The patron who calls herself “Xena Wonderwoman”, makes herself bullet-stopping bracelets from aluminum foil (she is in her 30s but has some severe developmental disabilities), and bellows at the top of her voice whatever inanity comes into her head. The gigantic 17-year-old who play Yu-Gi-Oh with kids half his age (and gloats about beating them) and wears his sunglasses in the library. Today was a priceless quote from a mother that made me clutch my coworker’s leg to stifle my laughter: “Sydney? Do those books honor God?” This was in the whiniest self-righteous voice I have ever heard and I have immediately appropriated this phrase for my own vocabulary. At lunch with Jane, I asked her if her burrito honored God. She tried not to choke. Public libraries are the strangest places.
I have been thinking a lot about books that influence me. Anything by Francesca Lia Block makes me dreamy and idle. Spending by Mary Gordon made me long for a patron so I could indulge in my artistic pursuits (nevermind that I haven’t any sort of talent). Femme’s Guide to the Universe by Shar Rednour always helps me feel bien dans ma peau. Jacqueline Susann’s books are so escapist I can hardly remember my own name. Alexei Kruchenykh’s poems expand my consciousness. Bukowski and the Beats ground me. Please note this is a very limited list as my collection is too large for complete inclusion in a blog post. I use books for everything; about time I became a librarian.
“Learn to value yourself, which means: to fight for your happiness.” – Ayn Rand
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