Szabo Ervin Library in Hungary
The library must have been built durin Szabo Ervin Library, Budapest's, boom years as the model industrial city of the North. Enough marble was used in its construction to have kept several Szent Istvan column busily satisfied for lifetime. Another memorable detail about the facade of this most important place to me were the phrase carved deeply into the walls-perhaps the immortal words Hungarian philosophers- I could not tell since I was developing astigmatism at that time and could only make out the lovely geometric designs they made.
I remember the musty, organic smell of the library, so different from the air outside. It was the small of an ancient forest, and since the first books that I read for pleasure were fairy tales from Hans Christines and J.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the aroma of transforming wood suited me as a prop
Since the days when I was 18 years old and libraries have always been an adventures for me, when I enter the stack and inhale the familiar smell of old leather and paper. It may be the memory of the danger that heightens my senses, but it is expectation that I felt then and that I still feel now about books. I gained confidence in my intelligence by reading books. They contained most of the information I needed to survive in two language and in two worlds from Hungarian and English. I read and reread favorite books until the characters seemed like relatives or friends I could see when I wanted tor needed to see them.
I still feel that way about books. They represent my spiritual life. A library is my sanctuary, and I am always at home in one. It is not surprising that in recalling my first library, the Szabo Ervin Library. I have always described it as a library. Reading books empowered me.
Even now, a visit to the library recharges the batteries in my brain. Everything that is, is mine for the asking. Because I can read about it
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