THE LIBRARY BOOK

My sister, three years older than me, was the one who introduced me to our town’s library. I was very proud that I could borrow books like the other people and I felt that I belong to their world.

I still remember the two women working at the library, elegant and smiling, who guided me in choosing my books.

While I was a student in Iasi I spent a lot of time at the Mihai Eminescu Library, which is now considered one of the most beautiful libraries in the world.

I was lucky to visit NY Public Library, and there I understood the role played by a library in the immigrants’life; they could learn to read in English, and they could read about the history of the United States.

“The library book” wants to celebrate libraries. 
And Lionel Shriver, one of my beloved writer, has a chapter in this book:

“A little observed knock-on effect on Europe’s low birth rate is that many people like me, who’ve had no children, will have no kids to whom to pass on their accumulated wealth when they die. 

When I kick the bucket, does David Cameron move in?

Well, I’m not about to leave my worldly chattel to Dave, or whatever wasteful, avaricious bureaucrat replaces him, just to fund another catastrophic fiasco like Iraq.

At the same time, I appreciate how hard it is to give away money as well. With shockingly high frequency, throwing money at people backfires.

I am bequeathing whatever modest estate I accumulate by my death to the Belfast Library Board.”

Even though she is American, Lionel Shriver has been living for a long time in the United Kingdom, and this is the reason she chooses to donate her estate to the Belfast Library Board.

Publisher: Crow Books, 2012