Thoughts from Crow Cottage (My Main Blog.)

crowbelle's Diaryland Diary

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A World Wide Library

A WORLD WIDE LIBRARY

I don't believe in "coinicidences."

I mean, when something happens that seems like a coincidence, I always suspect that there is some deeper meaning there, and I usually will search a bit to find that deeper meaning. I tend to think of these events as a sign pointing toward a particular path in life, a path that may not have otherwise been taken.

Such a thing happened to me recently, quite by chance - or coincidence?

It all started last week. I was at my office dropping off my work, as usual, in the afternoon. My boss, "E", was there and asked me if I had any books on dream interpretations.

Well, funny that! Just a few weeks ago, I was sitting at my computer working, and gazing at my wall of bookshelves just to the right of my desk, when I stumbled on an old book on Dreams. I had never really read it, so I took it out of its home there on the shelf, thumbed through it, presumably looking up the meaning of my most recent dream. I dream very vividly and often, but I've never really read up on the meanings of those dreams.

So, back to "E", it turns out that her daughter, "J", had had a puzzling dream recently - not once, but for several nights in a row! "J" asked "E" to ask me if I had any books on dreams. So she did. And I said "Why, yes! Just the other day I was looking at it myself!" I said I would bring it in and leave it there for "J".

Of course, I came home and do you suppose I could find that book anywhere?

Nope.

I have looked in almost every book-nook and cranny here at Crow Cottage for that dream book, but it is nowhere to be found. There are a few spots that are inaccessible due to our kitchen remodelling project (old kitchen cabinets are piled high in the dining room obscuring two built-in hutches where I have lots of books). It could theoretically be in there, but somehow I doubt it. I distinctly remember only seeing it upstairs in my den.

Anyway, back to the plot of this story.

Since I couldn't find the book for "J", I felt badly. I know she is interested in some topics that are close to my heart, such as spirituality, angels, the life "beyond" this one. So I started pulling out some of my books on those topics in order to bring them in to the office for "J" if she wished to read them.

I have so many books here that I probably am never going to read, but which are perfectly lovely books - especially on these subjects - so I went thru the house, gathering one after another of books I thought "J" or others at work might enjoy. I took them in to the office that afternoon with me. I asked "E" if she would mind my setting up a little shelf of books for the ladies in our company to borrow if they wished. She said that was fine with her.

I did that. I typed out a little sign and put it in front of the row of books, saying:

"This is a free Lending Library. Please borrow and read whatever books you like, and return them here when you are done."

I haven't noticed a big rush on these books yet, but "E" did tell me that "J" had, indeed, found one book she liked and borrowed it. That made me happy, and worth the effort I'd put in so far.

I didn't make a sign-out sheet or anything like that. I figure the ladies in our company are all upstanding honest women whom I trust implicitly, and even if they did borrow a book but failed to return it, no harm done. I'll probably never miss it! Besides, Paul is always on my case about cleaning out my "stuff" around here!

So that was that. My little Lending Library stands there on top of our cubby-holes at work, in front of the window. All my angel books are there, and some other books on "alternative" aspects of life in this universe.

The "coincidence" about all of this came along today.

I was reading my new Reader's Digest this morning while waiting for a thunder and lightning storm to pass over (I had to turn off my computer - didn't want it getting fried or anything!). On page 22 of this month's issue (August 2003) there is a little story entitled A Novel Idea.

It's all about a new practice of leaving books out in public somewhere, hoping someone will come along, pick it up and read it, and then will subsequently leave that same book back out in the public again, for some other person to find it and read.

In fact, there is a web site all about this which is here:

www.bookcrossing.com

If you just go to the web site, you can read all about this "novel" idea. I think it's great, but I just couldn't help seeing the great similarity between what I just did with my little "Lending Library" at work, and this idea of loaning books out to others.

In my opinion, it's a wonderful idea. I realize some poor books will fall by the wayside...get thrown away in trash barrels, or just stuffed away in someone's home, never to see the light of day again. But there is also the possibility of some happy little book traveling the world -- coming into the hands of all sorts of appreciative readers around the globe.

In the Reader's Digest article, the writer, a Mr. Ron Hornbaker, says:

" "Read Me." said the sticker on The Catcher in the Rye. The paperback had been left on a Santa Monica bus, where a rider noticed it and took it home. When he'd finished, he left it in a hotel lobby, hoping another stranger would find it, read it and pass it on."

Mr. Hornbaker continues:

"Our goal is to make the whole world a library.... When people read something they like, their first impulse is to share it."

Of course this system is a bit more organized than my little shelf of books at work. I don't have a tracking system for my books, so I don't know who reads them, but still, it's so similar in theory, that I just couldn't help but sit up and notice the "coincidence" in it all.

I think I'll go back into that web site, which I only just now found myself, and do a bit more reading on this topic. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some of the books of Crow Cottage end up with a little sticker that says READ ME on their covers, and placed in a public place to be discovered and read by some lucky reader.

I know the world isn't faring too well these days, things are such a mess in most of the world that it boggles the mind. I hear they may have caught Saddam's two sons today, in a raid in Northern Iraq, which certainly will boost the interest in that war for a while. But me, I lead a very small and concentrated existence here at Crow Cottage. I'm not involved in world events. Husband, dogs, house and garden are my biggest concerns most days, along with my work, of course, but I'm hoping that with this little book project in the back of my mind now, I can contribute a bit to the enjoyment of some of my long-languishing books which otherwise would never have had the chance to travel the world!

Cheers!

11:17 am - 22 July 2003

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