I recently rediscovered my local library. I can’t imagine why it escaped me the last 5 years, but it’s a wonderful environment in which to work.  My library was recently remodeled and now comes equip with sloping ceilings, exposed beams and floor to ceiling windows.  I have a favorite spot.  It’s tucked in back with a comfortable chair next to a window that receives sunshine all afternoon. It’s quiet, of course.  While working at the library, I find I can complete entire thoughts, work through solutions, plan, organize and get work done in a peaceful setting.  I’m incredibly productive there and I come home feeling happy and refreshed.  The library makes me feel like I’m hiding out.

Last Friday, I decided to take a little break and do a stroll through the stacks.  I rarely browse the catalog preferring instead to get lost among the books and pull items at random from the shelves.  You never know what you might find and this is exciting to me.  It was during this particular adventure that I happened upon How to Read A Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren.  My first impression was that it was a rather silly title, which made me smile, and the irony of reading a book on how to read a book was not lost. Having skimmed the title page, the back cover and the table of contents, I decided it was a book for me. I read the first few pages and found the style of writing was friendly, insightful and quite readable. I checked it out and spent the weekend with it.

I love the fact that the library offers a wealth of information on any given topic you can think of.  It’s all free. One simply needs to visit the library and, voila, the world is yours.  The problem I have, sometimes, is that the books I check out from the library rarely become mine.  I’m not talking about owning books in a financial way or a possessive material way. I’m talking about really owning the book…intellectually.  For me this requires more than reading.  There are a good many books, usually fiction, that I don’t care about owning intellectually.  I take the book out, read it and return it.  But there are some books, extraordinary books, that I must make mine and it requires more than checking a book out of the library, or even purchasing the thing to add to my own bookshelf.  Books such as How to Read a Book require the investment of my soul.

Most of the books in my home library are personal treasures.  Within the pages are journal entries, notes and thoughts I scribbled down while reading.  I’ve tucked train tickets, Post-its and postcards into the bindings.  I’ve made summaries and listed resources for further readings and the black marks in the book are underlined, edited, and exclaimed.  As I read each book or return to reread it… I am actively involved with the author.  I recall what I learned and where I was when I was learning it.  I can return to that book time and again and watch the progression from one resource to another to but yet another.  This, to me, is owning a book.

Digestion is involved.  I agree with Adler and Van Doren when they state…ummm… (Huh, case in point. I can’t immediately find that quote because I haven’t written in the pages of my library book.) “When you buy a book, you establish a property right in it, just as you do in clothes or furniture when you buy and pay for them.  But the act of purchase is actually only the prelude to possession in the case of a book.  Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it – which comes to the same thing – is by writing in it.”  Writing in a book is, to me, the highest compliment I can pay to the author.  It is a conversation between me and the writer.  In writing in my book, I too become a writer and the notes and sketches I make are documented proof of my involvement.

Reading is an activity and one which requires concentration.  Lazy reading will result in lazy results.  The mere act of reading with a pen in my hand immediately makes me wake up and pay attention.  I have been at fault of late of being a lazy reader.  So many thoughts cruise through my mind at any given time that it is difficult to block them out and commit to doing only one thing at one time.  What a relief it was to acknowledge this and be reminded that reading is hard work.

One might think that despite my promotional introduction and praise of the library, that I’m dissing the benefit of the library book.  On the contrary, the library is a warehouse of books waiting to be owned.  Many books are worth reading but not worth owning and the library lets us sort this out.  We can test drive a book, and as I did this weekend, order the book from a local independent book seller should we decide to truly “own” it.  I encourage you to own your books and to read Adler and Van Doren’s “How to Read A Book.”  It will not let you down whether you are a beginning reader or a seasoned one.

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