Places of Solace: The Library

... One of the first places I turn to when I need some quiet and just to "be" or need to focus or recover from whatever life throws my way is "The Library." It hardly matters which library. Our local library is a wonderful, new, airy open building with many comfy chairs, long well-lit tables in the main sections (with electrical plugs for connecting the laptop), and smaller tables and chairs lining the windows beyond the stacks. Plus, the library has a cafe, so I can grab a coffee or a sandwich before heading for the tables in the stacks.


The Lake County Public Library in Leadville, Colorado, is another favorite mine. Tucked behind the stacks proper is The Leadville Room, a great, all-wood-and-waxed-to-a-glow room (take a look at the floor in the photo), lined with glassed-in bookshelves holding every book that ever mentioned Leadville by name. AND it has a fireplace, to boot.

I also have fond memories of Santa Fe's public library, where I did an intense, three-day edit of Silver Lies. I stayed in a nearby bed-and-breakfast, counting on that breakfast to last me all day. In the mornings, I'd station myself outside the library. As soon as it opened, I'd find a place near the reference books and stay put, until it closed.

Libraries: They all feel like home to me.

Throughout my life, I've turned to libraries as places to help me heal and recover when I'm tired, sad, or just plain stressed out. I've often thought that, when I die, I want to be cremated so that in death—just as in life—I can "multitask" and be several places at once! One of the places I would love to have some portion of my ashes rest would be tucked away in a favorite library. What better way could there be to spend eternity than surrounded by books??