L for Library.

At  The Library of Congress in 1979 a very talented writer called Barbara Tuchman (1912-1989) gave a lecture called 'The Book'.She was an American Historian and Author. She focused on writing popular history. One biographer said of her,  "Tuchman was not a historians historian but a lay person's historian, who made the past interesting to millions of readers". Here is what she said at her Lecture called;

Barbara Tuchman

The Book.

 "Books are the carriers of civilization without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.

Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, (as the poet said), windows on the world.

 Lighthouses erected in the sea of time".

 They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print". 

 Where I lived as a child there was an Art Deco style Library.

 I spent many a happy hour browsing through the amazing assortment of books, picking the books I wanted to read, I started of with Enid Blytons books of The Famous Five and The Secret Seven, such great adventures for children.

Norris Green Library.
 Childrens Section.

 Who can forget Louise .M. Alcott's Little Women?

 Not forgetting Anne of Green Gables  by Lucy .M. Montgomery.

 Then there is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The door leading through to the magical Secret Garden.

 I could reel off lists of books that I hired from the Library, but that would take an age. We were allowed two books per week and I nearly alway read them before the due date. 

 I would read my brothers books, naturally, boy's own' stuff! There was Biggles, about a W.W.2 pilot in the Royal Airforce by H.E. Johns,  also Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes. 

My whole desire for reading and learning centred around this wonderful Library. Quite rightly the Librarians were highly respected in the community. When I started college we used The Central Library in the City to research our particular subjects. 

The Picton Room in Liverpool Central LIBRARY.


My thanks to Denise, Roger,Leslie and the ABCW team, without you there would be no chance for such a LOQUATIOUS yet LOVELY  group of people to transport their interests and views etc to this LAISSEZ -FAIRE meme.
Best wishes to all,
Di,
ABCW team.