Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

Library love

Seems like I was just here…oh, I guess I was. A week or so ago (all the days seem to run together anymore) I was here promoting the print edition of THE ANKH OF ISIS. It’s the second book in the Library of Athena series, which brings me to my topic – libraries. It seems to be a running theme, both in my fiction and my life. For the past two months I’ve been filling in for the librarian at one of my local elementary schools. I love the job so much, I’ve applied to Grad Schools to get my Masters in Library and Information Science.

I’ll be..The Librarian. snerk That’s funny because it’s part of my series; the MC stumbles into being the guardian for a secret library, and she’s called the Librarian. Though I have to say that when the Noah Wylie movies came out, I was more than a little surprised.

Libraries are the best places in the world, and some of them are also the most beautiful. I refer to this post: A Librophiliac Love Letter. The images are breathtaking – some seem to be able to transport you not just to a new world, but back in time as well. I couldn’t help but gush over some of the images of Baroque architecture, and be amazed at the decorative details of the Vatican Library. Some even made me stop in my tracks and gasp, because it was if they had sprung from my mind. I never used any photos when creating the Library of Athena, but I had an image in my head. Imagine my surprise when looking at, for example, the Austrian National Library in Vienna.

It is practically the temple I describe in my books. The image at the beginning of this post is the Melk Monastary Library in Melk, Austria. It IS (for the most part, nothing’s perfect) how I imagined the Library of Athena – dark wood, that magical sky ceiling.

I sigh with deep library love looking at these pictures. It is amazing that we humans can create such beautiful places to hold our books. To me, it symbolizes a deep love and reverance for the written word. I can imagine walking through the soft quiet, surrounded by the cathedral ceilings of the Church of Books. What a great way to spend time. Maybe I’d write something too…oh yes, I could write there.

Which library is your dream? Where do you see yourself going to escape the real world and worship at the altar of language?