Serendipity in the Rhodes College Library

So earlier I had mentioned I had bought a Kindle to read some academic text, Specifically, a book on narrative theory called NARRATIVE FICTION: CONTEMPORARY POETICS by Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan. This book is available for 110USD or for rental online for 30 days for about $5, plus a conversion fee to Kindle, another buck.

Let me say this: it is a significant book, but it is not exactly a page turner. And given my work, it has been, more or less, a source of angst for a few weeks. Mostly because it is hard to stay awake while reading ole Shlomith's work. Sorry, Shlomith. I know you are a brilliant scholar, and this is a very significant book, but this book is just not the most fascinating read, if I do say so...

So today was my last day at Rhodes College library (beautiful small liberal arts college library in Memphis where I have borrowing privileges). It was a great day. I was thrilled that the book I wanted was about to be shelved and the librarian caught it in time for me to make a page number notation. (those damn page numbers) And then I was perusing the for sale for 50 cents shelf, and what do you know--next to a book on Marxism and Formalism (which I also bought) was Shlomith's oeuvre! It was a divine moment. I felt I really scored with this book for only 50 cents.

I got this kind of pleasant feeling though, about Shlomith's book, and me searching for this everywhere and then finding it right in Memphis. An ole worn copy. So much better than the Kindle version. And then, there was this feeling about the amazement of minds meeting. (Mine is far smaller, so maybe just my mind hanging on to Shlomith's...) Here's Shlomith at the University of Jerusalem, author of this rather old book by theory standards (1984) that is still relevant to me, at City University of HK, some decades later. This is the magic of books and the library...reading across time and cultures and places. Connecting mentally in a space, through words. Reading has always been a place of sanctuary for me, even when faced with .... sigh... the likes of Shlomith's works. So I figured there was some kind of larger meaning to this finding of her book at the library...

Avoid the Kindle?

Always check the library book sale items? (Very dangerous in certain places...we had SO MANY BOOKS in storage before coming to HK as we were swept up in the fever of library book sales...most gone now to a drug rehab center in LA)

Shlomith--don't underestimate her?

Maybe a little of all of it. Thinking hard today about libraries though and how one goes in and out of them and certain books, reading them in the library.

For some reason the book I really remembered was reading THE WOMEN'S ROOM by Marilyn French when I was 13. That was mind-blowing. I sat reading it on the floor of the Iowa City public library and was FREAKED OUT by what the reality was for most women. It as at that point in time I declared myself a feminist, actually, though a broader and different perspective on the nuances of feminism would come later. That book, is true, now, I am sure, dated, to some degree. But I was slightly reminded of it, in terms of content during part of the period I was at home with Keohi. Women's lives can become very narrow and that is not in a positive or a negative way--just narrow is all.

Anyway, ruminating on libraries. I invite anyone to share a library story and to post...