Anand - The Library Book

The Library Book is published in support of
The Reading Agency

First published in 2012 by
Profile Books Ltd,
3A Exmouth House,
Pine Street,
London ECIR 0JH

Copyright in individual contributions held
by the author

A complete catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library on request

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978 1 78125 005 1
eISBN 978 1 84765 840 1

Designed and typeset by Crow Books
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays, Bungay, Suffolk

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Rebecca Gray

James Brown

Anita Anand

Julian Barnes

Hardeep Singh Kohli

Lucy Mangan

Alan Bennett

Seth Godin

Val McDermid

Lionel Shriver

Stephen Fry

Bella Bathurst

China Miville

Caitlin Moran

Tom Holland

Susan Hill

Michael Brooks

Bali Rai

Ann Cleeves

Julie Myerson

Nicky Wire

Zadie Smith

Kate Mosse

Karin Slaughter

Miranda McKearney

REBECCA GRAY

The Library Book began with a simple idea: to celebrate libraries. As the book took shape, it became clear that the value of public libraries transcends the books on the shelves. Books and stories are lifelines, and libraries house those lifelines, making them available to all. They are important not just for the books, but for the space and freedom they provide, as well as the navigation and advice provided by librarians.

I volunteer for a project run by Quaker Homeless Action, a mobile library. One of my colleagues, John, is, in his own words, a poacher-turned-gamekeeper. John used to borrow books from the library every week. The volunteers always looked forward to seeing him hes an enthusiastic reader, and wed always have a good chat about the books hed read, and what he might read next. Now he has a home, and he volunteers almost as often as he used to borrow books. Many of the people who visit us at the mobile library know John, and hes become a bit of a draw. People come to the library to say hello, have a catch up, and often, theyll end up borrowing a book too.

Its perhaps surprising that about half the books we lend are returned, not a bad statistic given that most of our borrowers are itinerant. John says its a symbol of trust that when youre on the streets, and someone lends you a book, it builds your confidence and becomes an emotional investment. Weve had books returned, carefully wrapped in protective plastic, so that theyve stayed dry when the person who read them is soaking wet from the winter weather. Sometimes, though they have nothing of their own, our readers donate the books theyve been given elsewhere to be added to our library.

For many of us, borrowers and volunteers alike, the mobile library is a meeting point, a place where all sorts of people come together, to have conversations youd never imagined, hear life stories that seem completely different to yours, or surprisingly familiar. Like all libraries, its a place where our minds open up, and the world becomes a little wider, and yet smaller too. Johns description of it is perfect: You go to the library on your own, but you end up talking to people, the librarians, other readers. And a conversation about a book becomes one about life, and you leave feeling that you arent alone after all.

At the library, some of the people who share our city but are mostly ignored become fellow book-lovers, and its a great equaliser. In the rest of their lives, they are asking for help, or being told what to do; here they are just people who are welcome to take a book. And when you take away a book, youre taking an escape route from your own problems, or from the boredom of empty hours. John describes the library as a combination of things: its a place where practical things information, face-to-face contact, filling your time combine with elements that are harder to pin down, like escapism, imagination and comfort.

John found that, as a homeless man, he was often perceived as a threat, or a nuisance. He says that the library made him feel part of a network, he made friends, and that gave him confidence, and the ability to trust people, where hed had none before. And those things helped him get back on track, so that now he has a place of his own, and a library card too. More than anything else though, the library has taught me and John that with apologies for the clich you can never judge a book by its cover. What people want to read often seems incongruous. A pair of biker-types taking away Thoughts of the Dalai Lama. People without access to instruments requesting sheet music. Aspiring poets sharing their work and then borrowing horror stories.

Putting this book together as well as working on the mobile library with John has been truly enlightening. So many people who write books would never have even begun reading without the influence of these completely democratic public spaces. So many of the writers whove contributed describe the library as a place of liberation, a place where lives literally change, and change in a way infinitely more profound and common than in any other place I can think of. So Im very grateful indeed that so many authors have kindly given their work to this book, and their royalties to The Reading Agency. That money will go to their library programmes, which are described at the end of this book. By buying, or borrowing, this book, youre already supporting The Reading Agency, but if youd like to know more about their work, do visit www.thereadingagency.org.uk

I hope you enjoy The Library Book.

JAMES BROWN

Do you read books? Hundreds of them? Are your shelves, rooms, bags, cars, offices full of books? Do you buy them on impulse at train stations and airports? Read the first few chapters before your journey ends? Do you come across a car-boot sale, second-hand bookshop or a charity shop; and walk away with books that look like bargains but only have a 25 per cent chance of getting read?

Do you hunger for new releases by favourite writers, get lost scouring Amazon and eBay and fan sites for rare editions, or volumes you only just heard about? Then never buy them. Go through books in a night, a week, one sitting. Lose sleep over them. Clinging on till the very end. An end that leaves you in tears, angry or spent? Or do they drag on for months and months while other easier-to-digest stories come and go?

Do you look forward to holidays because you know therell be a literary lottery on the hotels second-hand library shelf? Do you buy books like a habit? Do you find it hard to move them on after youve read them, caught between wanting to give them to a friend, or get some of the cover value back, and wanting to retain them as a physical memory of the time you enjoyed reading them?