There's Nothing Like a Book

One of the most reliable characteristics of a Winsor student is that they love the library. In fact, it’s not only Winsor students, and it’s not limited to our beautiful Virginia Wing Library. The Winsor community is full of people who adore libraries—for the possibilities, for the undiscovered worlds available there, and, of course, for the smell. There is nothing like a book.

Earlier this month, our library offered Book Bonanzas—the chance for students to sign out up to 10 books to take with them for the summer. What a gift! The excitement of that offer was matched only by the newly enrolled students, arriving on campus for a little orientation and some math placement tests, being given bags with their summer reading books in them. They were visibly thrilled; a few couldn’t wait and immediately opened their books to start reading. Clearly, there is nothing like a book.

When kids are young, libraries are magical places with so much more than books, including games, displays, workshops, and story hours. And I think they are also magical for the adults who accompany kids, though there is a tendency as we get older to spend less time in libraries. Perhaps we think it’s easier just to buy the book, and sometimes we buy the e-book or the audio version. Sometimes we just watch the movie. We move toward efficiency and ease of access.

But there really is nothing like a book. Reading is one of life’s great privileges, and holding a book in a comfortable spot, losing track of time, being carried away by extraordinary prose and a world you might not otherwise have any access to—this is a gift that makes our very complex lives all the richer. There is, of course, great research about how fiction increases our empathy, especially when we are emotionally engaged while reading it. Given the anger, abuse, and disrespect in the larger world right now, increased empathy seems crucial to our future as a species. We also know that the more people read, the better writers they become. And of course, the symbol of a good summer vacation is the beach read, or an afternoon in a hammock with a book. 

I have some beloved book memories myself. When I was 14, my long-distance best friend and I bought a beautiful matched set of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and each chose one to read. I must have read Jane Eyre 20 times that summer and, to this day, the Brontës make me think of my friend. There is also the parent experience of reading and rereading books to our children that made us love certain ones—in my case, everything by Sandra Boynton; Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type; and, later on, Harry Potter and Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales. There is also the great joy of sharing book titles with friends, or giving books as gifts. It’s like handing over another life to someone else.

I think it’s worth making a resolution to spend some time this summer in your local library, even and especially if you have nothing specific you are trying to find. In addition to books, our local Brookline library also loans tools, kitchen items, computers, games, and even 3-D printers. My family once made a special house-shaped cake because the library had a pan for the job—we never would have guessed. I also discovered the Quebecois world of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, just from scanning bookshelves in the library one afternoon. 

It’s the best kind of escapism, finding and diving into a good book, and it makes us better and happier people. I can have no greater wish for all of us this summer.