(Today I am thrilled to bring you a post from Jennifer of Literate Housewife. Jennifer’s blog, Literate Housewife, is fantastically written and one I always read first. I hope you enjoy her story as much I did!)
I had the privilege of growing up in a small, suburban community where the neighborhood library was only a mile away. It was a pleasant route to walk or ride my bike. Some of my best and most peaceful memories of middle childhood revolved around my trips to the Gaines Township Library. I could lose days sitting in the faux leather seats reading book after book after book.
The most memorable trip to the library happened during the summer of 1987. I was 15 years old, eagerly awaiting the driver’s license that was heading my way in October. It was a hot, lazy summer day. Despite the heavy air and that fact that it would be closing soon after I got there, in my restlessness I decided to ride my bike to the air conditioned library. I put the overdue copy of Pet Sematary in my backpack with enough change to pay off the fine and took off on my pale blue Huffy 10 speed.
As it turns out, this was the luckiest trip of my life. As I dropped my book in the return cart, I noticed a nearly pristine copy of Misery sitting on the cart waiting to be re-shelved. I saved the library page the effort. I grabbed it, took it to the counter, and checked it out. I found an empty chair in the back behind the non-fiction and started reading. However much time passed between the first page and when Betty Anne, the head librarian, gently told me that the library was closing, I noticed nothing of my surroundings. I was engrossed in Paul Sheldon’s car accident and the growing awareness of Annie Wilkes’ obsession.
I don’t recall the bike ride home or even eating dinner. In my memory I went from propping my bike up in the garage to plopping on my bed in my basement bedroom and cracked the book back open. Unlike when I read Pet Sematary, Christine, Carrie and Firestarter before it, this felt like more than a silly or gross thrill or scare to me. My heart pounded out of my chest as I maneuvered around Annie Wilkes’ house with Paul in his wheelchair. I can still feel the tingles in my fingers and arms and the chill in my chest as he was hobbled. I had never been so terrified, but it was as if the book was glued in my hands. I could not, would not put it down.
The sun had risen on Sunday morning when I finished that book. I looked at the clock and knew that my mother would start pestering me to get ready for Mass any time. I sat the book on my lap and lingered with it for a few moments. I would regret not sleeping the moment I slipped into the pew, but right then I didn’t care. I thought about how wonderful it must be to have the talent to make people feel so alive with your words. That morning I was thankful to be a reader. Today, I still am. I know that you are, too.
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August 30th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Thank you so much for asking me to contribute. I really enjoyed writing this post. It’s such a nice feature!
August 30th, 2008 at 11:09 am
[...] to write about one of my early reading experiences and it is up today. Please head over there and check it out! If you love Stephen King, I’m sure you can relate. I would love to read your [...]
August 30th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Great article. There’s nothing better than a good library.
August 30th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
that is awesome, libraries are so amazing for kids. I remember feeling that way about books. oh, wait…..I still do!! hahaha.. Great post literate housewife!
August 30th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
What a great post! It sure brings back memories too of all these books I read back then too and the pleasures of the library which are still there…
August 31st, 2008 at 1:11 am
What a fantastic post. I never had the pleasure of driving to a library and sitting and reading till closing time. I miss that. Somehow you brought your day to life with your words.
August 31st, 2008 at 7:15 am
what a great post! the library is always a great place to visit and getting lost in a good book is even better.
August 31st, 2008 at 11:52 am
Oh yes, I’m thankful to be a reader!
September 1st, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Jennifer, I loved reading this post. I think it’s great that you lived so close to a library and it was safe enough for your parents to let you go back and forth alone. Those were the days, huh?
Can you believe I’ve never read a King book? I’ve watched a few movies, but I’m sure the books are much better.
September 1st, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Thank you so much for commenting. I hadn’t really thought about it being a thing of the past to be able to walk or ride a bike to the library alone, but it is. I wouldn’t let my daughters do that. The thought of that is almost as scary as Misery itself!
Shana, you should really read Misery if nothing else by Stephen King. It was wonderful. The movie is really good, but the book is that much better.
September 1st, 2008 at 8:50 pm
[...] first guest post was published on Saturday at The Friendly Book Nook and I was really excited about that. Thanks to everyone who responded with comments. It really [...]
September 1st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Jennifer, what a great post! I lived within biking distance to my neighborhood library growing up and have equally fond memories.
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Here to give you props!
Great post. You brought back some great memories.
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Very cool, Jennifer, although should you have been reading “Misery” being the good Catholic schoolgirl that you were? Is that considered a sin?
I’m joking, of course! You know how much I admire you. Now, say 3 “Hail Marys” and 3 “Our Fathers!” From now on, you are ONLY to read the Holy scriptures, and “The Lives of the Saints!”
September 5th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I was able to bike to the library when I was a kid, and my older two can bike on their own now (sometimes we’re a parade of bikes, walkers and a stroller … what a circus!)
*Misery* was a turning point for me with Stephen King; it was the first book in which all the weirdness was HUMAN, not supernatural, reincarnating, telekinesis, etc. Powerful and creepy (would you have been able to sleep if you tried?!)