Another famous couple

Nancy Horan, who brought us into the lives of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney in Loving Frank, once again brings us into the lives of another famous couple.  Her latest work is Under the Wide and Starry Sky which is the evolving saga of the marriage of Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny van de Grift Osbourne. Stevenson has spent his life fighting the lung ailments which often rendered him an invalid.  While vacationing among the Bohemian set in France, he meet Fanny van de Grift Osbourne, an American divorce with children who is many years his senior.  Nonetheless, Stevenson falls in love with Fanny.  They spend their lives together creating art and literature, fighting insolvency and Stevenson's declining health.  Stevenson was a prolific writer of novels (Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), travel writings, letters and poetry which is an amazing body of work considering his ill health.


So, my offspring tell me that retro is in - in terms of cocktails, jewelry, accessories and interior design.   Let's extend retro to literature.  For all of us who were regaled with the antics of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean, pick up the original pirate story - Treasure Island.  Shiver me timbers!  Yo ho ho!

Ode to Libraries

For Mother's Day, one of my offspring gave me a copy of a recently published book The Public Library a Photographic Essay by Robert Dawson.  I recommend that you pick it up and browse through it.  Dawson and his son travelled throughout the United States taking photos of representative public libraries.  The photos are stunning - from the neoclassical buildings in the Northeast to the ultramodern libraries on the west coast.  More impressive are the photos of the decrepit and abandoned libraries in inner cites and the stark realities of the corrugated buildings on desolate Indian reservations.  In addition to photos, there are essays about libraries in some cases by noted authors such as Amy Tan and Barbara Kingsolver.  There are stories about libraries.  My favorite was the inspiring story of The Northeast Nevada Regional Bookmobile which brings books to some of the most remote areas of the United States.  I nearly reverted to the 1960's over the story of the proposed closing of the Salinas Library due to budget cutbacks.  John Steinbeck was truly spinning in his grave.


I have been a librarian for a very long time and I have seen many changes in technology.  But I have always maintained that libraries are there for the "have nots" as well as the "haves."  It has been a privilege to meet and serve the folks who have come to me at the reference desk.  Yes, I have called the police when  the need arose.  I have banned more than one person for inappropriate and dangerous behavior. But libraries are there to serve those who do not have a computer or Internet access or books or formal education or the ability to read English. We libraries look everyone in the eye equally. We have been at the forefront of defending the Freedom to Read.  The First Amendment is in very good hands in American public libraries.


Public libraries today are facing their greatest challenge in funding.  Many municipalities are faced with  the unpleasant choice between libraries and public safety.  The local library should not be viewed as a nice extravagance.  Libraries change lives and libraries save lives.  So if it is within your means, send a donation, volunteer with the Friends, serve on the Board or buy used books at your local book sales. It will make a difference in somebody's life.