October 1, 2010

As if I needed another reason to love Ray Bradbury












"Yes, I am. I’m completely library educated. I’ve never been to college. I went down to the library when I was in grade school in Waukegan, and in high school in Los Angeles, and spent long days every summer in the library. I used to steal magazines from a store on Genesee Street, in Waukegan, and read them and then steal them back on the racks again. That way I took the print off with my eyeballs and stayed honest. I didn’t want to be a permanent thief, and I was very careful to wash my hands before I read them. But with the library, it’s like catnip, I suppose: you begin to run in circles because there’s so much to look at and read. And it’s far more fun than going to school, simply because you make up your own list and you don’t have to listen to anyone. When I would see some of the books my kids were forced to bring home and read by some of their teachers, and were graded on—well, what if you don’t like those books?

I am a librarian. I discovered me in the library. I went to find me in the library. Before I fell in love with libraries, I was just a six-year-old boy. The library fueled all of my curiosities, from dinosaurs to ancient Egypt. When I graduated from high school in 1938, I began going to the library three nights a week. I did this every week for almost ten years and finally, in 1947, around the time I got married, I figured I was done. So I graduated from the library when I was twenty-seven. I discovered that the library is the real school."

- Interview with Ray Bradbury from the Paris Review - read it here in full.

Thanks to the blog, the Short Review, for the photo nab.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Susan, I am so pleased I found your blog and would not have done so if you had not posted a comment on my silk worms. Thankyou so much - I;ll be reading your posts from now on. They take me out of my own frenetic world, and I am addicted to museums and libraries, when I have the time to visit. Ann.

Susan Moorhead said...

Welcome! I was so impressed to read about your silk worm project. I will be keeping an eye on you, too! :)

Sue said...

Hi Susan. What a great quote this is. I am a big fan of libraries too! Thanks for visiting my blog and for your comments :-)