Since I learned how to read, I fell in love with books. My summer vacay as a child and as a teenager always started with a school given reading list which was always extended with books of my own interest. I would choose a bunch of books from my parents’ library which was, and still is, quite wide and full of great stories. Imagine around twenty books set up in a pile – this was my joy and daily entertainment. Reading all day long and seeing the pile get shorted while my mind was being filled with amusing stories.
As I grew up, my everyday life got busy with other important things but books I always loved. However, I always dreamed of having my own home library and I still nurture this dream, just in a bit different way than I imagined.
The thing is, I don’t usually buy books. And when I do, it’s usually the books I already read.
Why is that so?
Well, once I moved from children’s books to the adults’ section, I noticed that even though I love books, there are too many books I don’t get. I can’t say that some books are bad themselves, no. But I do think, there are books that aren’t written for me or for me at particular timing.
Before consciously understanding this fact, I bought a lot of books for my tiny but growing own library, which is still the size of half bookshelf but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I learned that while some books seem spectacular and genius, others are dull and difficult to read.
Gladly, there are a lot of libraries full of various books and free readers’ membership.
It was two years ago when I got back to the Adomas Mickevicius library and changed my children’s library card into the one for adults.
Ever since, it is my monthly ritual to go to the library, walk around thousands of books, read the backs of the covers, and search for the five books that I feel will interest me.
During that time, I brought back home LOTS of books with me, learned, that beautiful cover does not mean the story itself will be good, same as poorly looking cover can hide an incredible story. But one of the lessons I feel most happy about is that I no more feel like I must finish reading a book that I don’t feel good about. Some time ago, it was like a subconscious rule that if I started reading a book I must read it all. But after seeing how many books are out there and how limited my time for reading is, I chose to ignore it and read-only what keeps me interested.
Because of that, I read books from the library and once I find what I like a lot and would love to read sometime in the future, I buy them.
Therefore, my home library is growing slowly, but I’m making sure it’s full of books that will actually be read. And at the same time, I’m a regular, and I must say incredibly happy, library member.
Besides, I love that the library I’m going to is located in a spacious and very beautiful old town building. It creates an even more magical and sophisticated atmosphere in the library and matches perfectly with the vibe of books.
Thanks to libraries, I believe that my love for books will never end because no matter how much I read, I always find new amusing stories.
If you’re a fellow book lover, I hope you’re already using your local library instead of playing a lottery of buying new books. But if you’re not, go visit a library and enjoy all it has to offer.