éc
ei't‘iT-"i COUSSEMENT
The joy 0f books
Kath Coussement worships books and wants you to share her pleasure.
ooks cart save lives. and I know this from
personal experience. Many years ago. when I
worked in Brussels as a cleaner. surrounded by l‘lemish-speaking strangers. my moments of escape were stolen when I could lock mysell into the loos l was supposed to he cleaning. and read a hook. any book. as long as it took me to a world other than the one I was in.
These days I work in a branch library. a job I took otrt ol‘ necessity. bttt which has given rne an opportunity to rellect on the remarkable power of books to transport tts. Printed paper laces an enormous challenge from comptrters local government believes that more and more inl‘ormation should be available on the internet. and so less and less hard copy need he produced . htrt a library is a place where you can still spend all day immersed in the written word. at no charge. without obligation. The best thing about a library is that you can wander the stacks and lind exactly what you didn‘t know yott were looking l‘or. Almost every time I shelve hooks. some volume or other will demand my attention. In this way. lately. I have happened upon a murder mystery set in (‘alil’ornia‘s wine country. an anthology of writing by mothers about teenagers. an engrossing book called Tree .‘l’lt’dlit'lilu’. and Donna 'l‘artt's The Little Friend (to which I came a little
these books; they found me.
A recent search l‘or inl‘ormation on Asperger‘s’ Syndrome tttrned tip several works. from dense research to pop sell-help. htit during the same week. coincidentally. I picked tip The ('iirioiis Ini‘i'i/t'nt oft/re Dog in the Night-time. the current choice of the library readers‘ group. I wasn‘t aware that Mark lladdon‘s book was about an .’\sperger‘s sul'l'erer; it tell oil the shell into my hands the way books do. the way they can‘t possibly do dtrring a search ol‘ titles on Ania/on. I believe that everything happens for a reason. and lladdon‘s hook caught my eye jtrst when it was ol~ trse to me. Perhaps l was subconsciously drawn by the cover. or lltc‘ typeliace. ot‘ the book‘s reputation. Whatever the reason. it got my attention.
The point is. hooks are gorgeous in a way that text on a screen just isn‘t. ()ne ol. the best parts of the job is the physical handling of books. brand new ones. with virgin date labels and unblemished covers — or ancient tomes which have sol'tened to a tolmcco-hrtwvn in the scores ot~ bands they have passed through. Long before they are literate. very young children learn to enjoy books as objects. the sensual pleasure ol‘ ttrrning sturdy pages and discovering marvellous images. It‘s a delight to watch children barely old enough to walk. staggering over to the picture books and crowing with excitement as they pull otrt brightly coloured treasures. The
10 THE LIST 1 “ lvlat .Ft‘rt‘i‘
MUCH OF THE ENJOYMENT OF A LIBRARY JOB COMES FROM SEEING OTHERS ENJOY BOOKS
late. btit I‘m a convert). I wasn‘t looking for any of
children's library is the perl‘ect mixture ol‘ the lamiliar and uncharted territory.
Parents who sit with their tots will pass onto them their passion for much-loved stories — ll'lii'ri' Illt’ iii/ii Things .-\ri'. l.rtt/i' l’i'ti'. .S'ti'g (if/[IF [him/t. 'l‘hesc hecorne so much more than words on a page. suffused with memories and all the meaning they had the lirst time rottnd. Much of the enjoyment iii a library joh comes from seeing others enjoy books the grandmother who gleel'ully snatches tip the latest crime blockbuster. the stranger who. unbidden. recommends something you might never have considered. or the student ol‘ life in Tibet who brings in laundry lists ol‘ obscure requests.
I am thrilled with the possibility of requesting a hook that I remember vaguely from years back. and that it may still be sitting on the shell. in some other library. What a kick to imagine somebody making their way along the stacks. l'ollowing shell' numbers to lind the one volume I particularly want. and then packaging it tip to send to me. And what a sense ol‘ satisl’action to do the same lot“ someone else who wants to learn the clarinet. or grow clematis. or take care of their chinchilla.
'l‘his organising ol' the hook stock. making order ottt of chaotic illltit'liiiilltiii. is wonderltrl too. it can he unhending. like the Dewey Decimal system for non-l‘iction — imagine
assigning a number to every aspect of
human endeavour — but most libraries will have their own idiosyncratic schemes too. separating crime from other fiction or teenage novels from the younger children‘s books. and pulling otit random titles for display (I love this hit — I can select whatever I fancy and arrange it on the shelves near the entrance. and watch someone pick it up because it has spoken to them). Which brings me back to the heattty of libraries. where you can he led by instinct. whim. divine intervention or pure chance. to a hook that a search engine would never have thrown up. And that book might save your life.
Kath Coussement is manager of a library in Yorkshire
PLUCKING FRUITS FROM lHE CULTURAL BUSH
I Biting back onto the scene are terrifying industrial types Nine Inch Nails. A gig at Barrowlands on 7 July has IUSl been announced to coinCide with a new album, With Teeth, and a tenth anniversary deluxe edition of their ‘seminal' w0rk, The Downward Spiral . . . Perhaps less scary is the return of The White Stripes who are back in their Detroit studio working on the follow-up to the massrve Elephant. ConSidering they recorded that one in a mere ten days. chances are that we may not have to wait too long for some new sounds to be heard . . . Ever wanted to know the true-ish history of the CIA? Well, your chance is nigh with the Robert De Miro—directed movie The Good Shepherd, in which he also stars as James Wilson. one of the group's founding fathers. Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie are in there. too . . . A documentary film about the wonderful life of Eddie lzzard. his comedy and clothing rights is set to reach screens later in the year. Diva 57 has been three years in
the making. and revolves around lzzard's attempts to crack America. including his stint in the Broadway play A Day in the Death of Joe Egg and
the Emmy-winning screening
of his Dress to Kill one-man show . . .And it yOu're reading the mag from back to front. here comes the third mention
of Joan Rivers. as she prepares for a new series on Five of her relationship advice show The Joan Rivers Position. 80. it you need guidance on such matters and are brave enough to even consider getting involved. give 0207 960 2044
a buzz or email joanrivers@sotv.cc.uk.