stumblingtumbling

everytime i'm at the library i'm tempted to go up to the counter and tell them i want to volunteer as a librarian. dewey decimal system and all that. and i don't know what makes me want to- probably the way it gets me whenever i see Isaac Asimov books under I, or Saul Bellow under S, or TotalFilm magazines under F. Or maybe, i just like the library. it's a place that people go to without any obligation or real necessity; rather, just a simple want. and it's there where people - old or young, alone or with friends, school sweater or faded jeans, laptop or sketchpad - can just shut out the world and be. even the people who are there just to fall asleep on the couches with a book-in-hand-disguise have this weird right to be there. it's the whole idea of pullovers and too-cold-air-conditioning and books and interrupted silence and duskfall through the glass walls. but then i remember i owe the library quite some money and i think twice

it's the same way i think the best thing that happens to the nearby entertainment centre (or a mall that exhibits it's lack of entertainment) is the second hand book stall that lays out its tables, spreads out its books, and brings cheap reading to the masses. it's almost the right thing to do. especially when you manage to get good books that are not mystery novels or science fiction at 3 -for-10bucks. and all sorts of people are suddenly gathered, browsing; school-kids, bored dads, people looking for chinese stuff, mums buying children books, women buying 4 chick-lit books at a go, geeks buying how-to books, and people reading recipe books that are at least 10 years old. i think it's fascinating, yet mundane at the same time