Libraries and librarians...

Ah, books... how well I remember them. Not that I’ve given them up completely but I am now the Kindle King (other reading devices are available)… and I have hundreds of unread books that have whispered to my grey plastic mobile library with a single click.

I have most of the novels of Dickens waiting to be read, Hardy, Plato, old favourites from my boyhood such as - The Ghost Stories of M.R. James, The Lost World, Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Kipps… and a host of trashy novels and stories by new authors – and best of all… they are all free.

Now, I shan't read every one, I may not even read any of them; but somehow the guilt of not reading them is offset by not having to pay for them. Gone are the days when I had to finish a book once started because I’d paid and wanted my money's worth. All those wasted hours reading stories that I’d lost interest in after page nine with another three hundred pages to go - strange how the attitudes of a lifetime can so easily change.

The free thing didn’t apply to my library books though; even though the library was basically free (excluding fines at two pence a week). I always used to read them. I had to; just in case the librarian asked if I’d liked it and wanted me to give a quick breakdown of the plot. I was strangely intimidated by librarians, still am I guess, they always appear so in control. I’ve still to see a librarian take off her glasses, shake back her hair, and turn into what I believe they call a ‘hot honey’ though. (Just thought I’d throw that’s the mental picture that pops whenever I think librarian.)

Of course the days of the library and the keepers of said institutions are numbered but I shan't get into that rant just now... syekcal ruoy lla dna noremaC eiD (crack that one copper!)

Yes, I am now a free man, my reading OCD fetters unlocked by my Kindle, copyright, and the dearth of writers happy to give their work away to get noticed - or unread and unnoticed - on Kindles everywhere.

I await the first online Kindle library. I wonder what the virtual librarian will look like? (Pop! Takes off glasses, shakes back hair, turns into ‘hot honey.’)