Most Beautiful Libraries

   As a kid I loved to watch Beauty and the Beast. Maybe normal little girls would watch and wish that they had Belle's beautiful dresses, or a handsome prince to sweep them off their feet. Not me, I would wait eagerly until my favourite part came. Beast would open the door and lead Belle into the giant library, and I would watch with wide eyes, wishing and praying that someday I would have a library just like that!

   But just like other little girls grow up and realize that prince charming is really just a guy who sits on the couch in his tighty-whities and drinks beer and farts a lot, I realized that I was probably not ever going to have that library. What I can do though, is go through pictures on the internet and torture myself with libraries I'm probably never going to be able to afford to have in my lifetime. Admit it, you do it too...

   I was searching Beauty and the Beast library and found THIS:

    Thankfully the drool didn't short out my keyboard. This is someone's personal library. I couldn't find the name of the person who owns this, but I wonder if they spent their childhood pausing the tape at the part where Belle walks into the library. Probably. 

    Of course, a library doesn't have to be decorated like a frosted wedding cake. I love the old fashioned libraries the best. All done in burnished oak or dark cherry wood. I want a library where you walk in and imagine that Tolkien and Lewis may have just been sitting there in the old arm chairs by the fire, pipe smoke curling up to the ceiling.

      This lovely library is the personal library of Steampunk Couture seamstress, Kato. I frequent her facebook fan page to drool over the amazing steampunk clothing she makes, and then I found this and went into fits of jealousy. 

    Speaking of fits of jealousy: Here is the personal library of Jay Walker (inventor and entrepreneur).  It looks like some glorious mash up of mad scientist lab/library.

    This drool-worthy beauty is owned by none other than George Lucas. It's the library at Skywalker Ranch, where all the Star Wars bigwigs get together. I wonder if they play dress up and have epic light saber battles on the balcony. I would.

    This one is mainly coveted because it belongs to one of my all time favourite authors: Neil Gaiman. I can just imagine him in there, creating the magic, making up fantastical stories. Hiding from the hordes of rabid fans on his doorstep. Neil is famous for having crazed fans who think of him as a sort of literary rock star. Not me though, I'm not crazed. Nope.

    And then there's this one. It's no beauty and the beast library, but it has funny hats and spooky pictures, ticking clocks and dripping candles and best of all: My favourite books all in one place. Do you have a library, or a coveted picture of a library you plan to make your own one day? Or do you just watch Beauty and the Beast over and over until the VHS starts to wear out?

Edited to add: The second picture is not in fact a personal library, but the Admont Abbey library in Austria.

The Trouble with Cats

Many of you have experienced the frustrations of being a writer. The constant distractions the outside world provides.  The lethargy we seem to experience at the thought of starting a new project, or editing an existing one.  Some of us have that wonderful little voice in our head, that driving thought or idea that will make us sit down and get to work. But once we have overcome the slothfulness and put aside the shiny distractions of TV and internet, there are more obstacles still. I do not speak of writer’s block. That can be taken down with the sturdy sledgehammer of careful thought. No, I speak of a far greater foe.

I experienced this yesterday. No sooner had I sat down at my computer, when along strolls Peaches, my feisty calico, who quite suddenly has a penchant for Earl Grey tea. Without so much as a by- your- leave, she sticks her furry face inside my tea cup and begins lapping up the contents within.  My outraged noises and shooing motions don’t bother her in the least, and she drinks her fill. Grumbling, I turn back to my work.

Soon she attempts to flop down on my keyboard, making appreciative purring noises that probably translate roughly into, “Aaah, lovely. I can warm my belly on the keyboard and piss her off in one go.”  I shove her off and she flops over onto my papers like a limp noodle, and then proceeds to roll around on her back, paws in the air, on top of all of my papers, purring and drooling. Thoroughly impatient by now, I hiss at her, much the same way a crazy person would, and she gives me a disapproving stare.

Briefly there is drama, when Addie, the Great Dane pokes his giant head and shoulders into the doorway and my cries of “No dogs in libraries!” mingle with Peaches outraged growls. She jumps from the desk and menaces him, until he backs himself out of the room, staring at us woefully as he retreats. I look blankly at the screen once all is silent again. Where was I?

Peaches is now off in the corner, playing the mighty hunter. She makes odd burbling noises as she stalks an intruding moth across the window sill.

I get one or two words written and then she’s back, like a recurring nightmare, head butting my arm, demanding I acknowledge how cute she is.        

Yes, damn it, you’re very cute.   

She drapes herself over my shoulder like a large, fuzzy parrot and purrs at top volume right in my ear, determined that if I’m going to do anything at all, it had better involve petting and adoring her.  I ignore her, and she returns to her rolling and drooling, scattering my papers across the desk. Alas, she rolls too enthusiastically and falls off the edge of the desk with a crash, scattering the papers and taking several books with her. Whoever said cats were graceful?  I laugh unkindly and she glares at me in embarrassment, stalking out of the room in a huff. 

                At last, the tyrant is gone and I am free to write! Now, I’ll just quickly check Facebook….