Why I Love my Library

I'm a voracious reader. Even amongst other avid readers, I'm an anomaly: I read 100 - 200 books per year, and have done so for as long as I can remember, with only a slight drop-off while in college. With this high reading volume, you'd probably assume I've always been a library patron.

This is not the case. 

There was a 15–20-year gap between childhood and adulthood when I didn't go to the library at all. Why? Because of a simple, erroneous assumption: I assumed that the libraries of my childhood never changed. By the time I was in my 20's, I was knee-deep into reading obscure horror authors and had the false belief that libraries never got past stocking more than just King/Koontz/Rice. 

I was wrong.

From what I've seen, even small libraries have impressive selections. Don't make the same mistake that I made! And if you need more reasons to visit the library...

Libraries have what are called "librarians." This sounds super fancy, but basically these are people that REALLY like books and want to talk about them; it'll give them a break from shelving them, which isn't as fun.

Libraries have computers, and although computers aren't as cool as books (obviously), there IS a small chance that you will find a super cool looking older guy watching vintage 1987 WHITESNAKE concert footage on one. If you don't know who Whitesnake is, there a heavy metal band whose lead singer's girlfriend one time rolled around on a sportscar. They also have super rad hair and love guitar solos.

You may also find a guy watching reruns of the 1992 tv show RENEGADE on another one. (This is a different guy from the Whitesnake guy). If you don't know RENEGADE....Renegade is about a guy (also with rad hair) that wears jeans and a leather jacket and gets in a lot of fights with badass-looking criminals. Although it seems he gets in a fight everywhere he goes, he never seems to wear something more comfortable/easier to fight in.

As stated before, your local library has more books than you may think.

Oh, I forgot to mention: The library is FREE! As a matter of fact, it should probably be called "The Free Book Rental Store," but I guess that's too many words.

Libraries are quiet. How many places are actually QUIET nowadays? Furthermore, most libraries have reading rooms. These rooms are like quieter places in the already-quiet-place. 

Let me know if you see the Renegade guy at your library.

By Jason Cavallaro

Twitter: @pinheadspawn