One of the book blogs I'm following recently talked about libraries in one of her posts. It made me reminisce a little, about the days when I just knew what a library even was; I remember my mom telling me we could bring books home, and I was so shocked to know that we didn't have to pay for it.
The Popular bookstore at Whitesands was a huge part of my childhood, but then again, so was the library. It used to be an arcade, and I remember this because my elder brother and our boy cousin would always go there and drag me along.
That one day, when we saw it had opened into a library, they were devastated; I on the other hand, did not know what it was until my mother told me about how we could borrow books from there. It slowly became my favourite place.
My mom would read her Malay entertainment magazines while I read the fairytales. I remember the fairytale section, where exactly it was, and it was always the first spot I'd go to when we arrived, while the first place I'd always go to in a Popular was the Enid Blyton section xD
When I was in Primary 5, I became a librarian at my school library. It was a big one considering it's a primary school library, but not many kids came to read. Instead, they used the computers and I remember it was also when YouTube just started being a thing. That left all the books to me.
There was this series called The Boxcar Children that became my favourite during my librarian days, mine and my then best friend, who was the one who recommended me to the teacher librarian. Those days, while all the kids were happy to go home, I was so happy to get to this nerdy ass CCA after school.
I did have an up-down relationship with libraries. Sometimes, I'd go there once a week or more, while sometimes up to just once a year. Most of the time it's only because I haven't paid my fines and didn't have the money to. ...Well, I was just a kid in school ya know.
2012 was the year I read most library books. I didn't buy many books, only doing so when I received a whole bunch of Popular vouchers once. The year after that, believe it or not I didn't read much. I can remember just a handful of books I've read in 2013.
I believe 2014 was the year I became more invested in reading. I read more, heck I bought more. This was the year I started collecting books, and reading any chance I got. And then of course we all know where I am today.
This year so far is starting to become another library year. Of all the 19 books I've read so far, only 3 were my owned ones! Holy shit I just counted that on the spot and holy damn shit. But this new obsession with libraries is a good thing for my wallet and my goal of saving 10k this year, so how about that =D
Anyway, libraries are just the best. They are unappreciated, youths always going there just to lepak and waste their time, making noise for the ones who do want to read. It's a waste, but what to do. Let's just count on the rest of us readers to make sure libraries and bookstores never burn out.
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