The Joy of the Public Library

It has been a few years since I last posted in my blog.  I have used it as a travel diary, as a place where I could post fledgling poems, and now as a place where I can write small essays on subjects that capture my attention.

At the beginning of this year, I had a very long list of things that I wanted to accomplish throughout the year.  One of those items on my list was checking out books on CD so that when I commute to work I have something to listen to.  My commute is almost 4 hours per day and I have been either listening to nothing or to classical music on the radio.  The audio books have made the drive so much easier.  At the moment I am listening to Little Women.  I thought I read the book when I was growing up but I don't remember or recognize the story.  It is a very moral tale and follows the lives of the Marsh family as the four children grow and reach adulthood.  Since I am a single woman I find it a little disturbing that it seems to advocate that marriage for a woman as one of the most important things that they can do to live a rewarding life.  Since that did not happen for me, I am hoping that not leading a married life can be as equally rewarding.  Aside from that I am enjoying the story and the life advice that it gives.  It shows a window into that period of time and what the important values were.

I am thinking about checking out language tapes so that I can learn a new language.  I am excited about that idea, however at the moment I am not sure which language to learn.  It would make sense to learn a language from a country that I was interested in visiting.

In addition to audio tapes, I have been checking out books.  I have already finished one book and am on my second.  I find it so much easier to check out the book than buy it, I am not sure why I did not think of this sooner.  At the moment I am reading a book about Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu.  It is a very moving book.  I think that as time goes by it is easy to accumulate hurts and disappointments.  I think that the message of forgiveness can be used to address the small hurts that we carry in our lives and that keep us back from living fully in the present.

My reading plans have taken on new life.  I plan on reading books about how to live a good life, fiction, history, and continued learning.  For me continued learning for my career would be new programming languages and how to apply them.  The public library certainly has opened up worlds for me and I am very grateful for it.