Libraries Rock!

I'm writing this post from the most amazing library -- the Downtown Seattle Public Library to be exact. It's a modern highrise building of criss-crossed steel and glass. It feels like a freaking church of books.

And well it should be. The library is where is all began for me. I spent so many hours reading in libraries as a child. I was destined to be a devotee of words.

See, my dad taught at the local high school when I was a junior high student. That meant I drove to his school with him, then walked the five blocks to mine. I was there early -- with the teachers. Ugh.

My only escape was the dusty second floor library, which was populated with Agatha Christie and other writers I loved. Long before the first bell rang, I was poring through mysteries and adventures, bugging the libarian for more authors, finding comfort in the far away situations of fictional characters, putting myself in their shoes.

Someday I'm going to be on the shelf in that old library. Kids will be able to check out my books and escape with me to far away places. That in itself is a reason to write.

Who else can perform that kind of magic? Who else can take others on shared trips in the imagination? Only writers.

So, I can't be the only one in love with libraries...

What was your library like?