Libraries are not just to look at, of course, but wow! Look at these...

As you know, occasionally there are 'news' items on Yahoo. Quite often the 'news' is nothing more than the earth-shattering revelation that the Duchess of Cambridge has some grey roots showing...or (more interestingly perhaps) a man was found buried alive in Brazil. But now and then there is a 'visual' news item that literally catches the eye. Ian McEwan once said that when he writes descriptive passages he lends 70% to the visual as 70% of the human brain, he says, is geared up for visual stimulation. Who am I to disagree...

Anyway, recently, my brain was seriously stimulated by pictures of the 'best' libraries around the world, and provoked all sorts of memories of all sorts of libraries I've used in the UK.  None of them, perhaps, can compete with any of those around the world, but then we should remember that 'best' should never mean best-looking. 'Best' is a subjective term. Nonetheless, look at these buildings...wow.

Or if you prefer something less fanciful, and more Zen...

Or if you prefer something more prison-like...

Looking at all of these beautiful libraries took me back to one in particular that I used whilst researching medieval seals at Durham Cathedral. 

It does not have much of the grandeur of most of the other buildings...but it is truly medieval...and the ceiling is amazing. Though I don't dabble much in the medieval era these days, I feel privileged to have spent time in that library. Though most of my time was actually spent in the bowels of the cathedral archive examining hundreds of original medieval documents, scrolls (and seals), testing my Latin and paleography skills to their maximum, in the low watt light thrown from a study lamp. I worked there for the best part of three years...and ruined my eyesight in the process...but there is no gain without pain.

The library I've most recently visited is The Beaney in Canterbury. Modern, vivid, efficient, and very welcoming. A zillion miles from a dusty cathedral. 

Sometimes, my mind trails back to the first library I ever used, in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, where I was loaned my first books. Alas, it was closed many years ago, and I cannot find a photograph of it. I was quite a poor reader as a child, and first borrowed Dr Seuss's "Cat in the Hat" series. How I got from that phonetic cat to lecturing in medieval history is a long mystery, and how I got from writing history to writing fiction an even longer one... 

But my question(s) to you is: do you have a favourite library in the world...and can you remember the first book you ever borrowed from your first library...? 

AFM