Marcy #59, 9/12/07

Wow, it's really hard to believe how prolific I've been lately, isn't it? That is, it would be hard, if anyone still read this. But enough about that! I went to another library today, and if you're here, you just might have a desire to read about it. This is what happens when my classes start and I don't have any serious homework yet, but am still only working a couple days a week. Massive amounts of reading! I finished reading Assorted Fire Events, and while I did like it, the author (who is in fact a professor of creative writing) comes off more as the perfect technical short story writer who will never really be interesting enough to drag you back. I'm sure he's a great teacher, you can tell that from reading his work, but I wouldn't recommend this particular book too highly.

What I can recommend, though, is George Saunders' excellent new book of essays, The Braindead Megaphone. I bought it and read it all in one day (Monday, I believe) and one of the essays, "The United States of Huck," which started life as an introduction to one of the eight million editions of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, was so good (all of the essays were really good) that it made me want to reread Huck Finn as soon as possible. I figured I could pick a library at random and they'd have it, and I picked the Marcy Branch, and I was right.

Branch: Marcy
Location: 617 DeKalb Ave. at Nostrand Ave.
Transport: bicycle
Book: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2007

It was a gorgeous day, so I decided to bike up to scenic Bed-Stuy, through Fort Greene so I could go to Fort Greene Park on the way back. Which may actually be my favorite park in Brooklyn. But don't check it out, cause I like how quiet it is. Right, the library. Well, once you get into Bed-Stuy, the neighborhood stops being as nice, and the branch itself didn't have much to offer either. There was space enough, bat as seems to be typical of underfunded branches, most of the shelf space was empty. I know they base funding on circulation, but it can really be a self-perpetuating cycle when fewer people want to come to a library because it doesn't have all that many books, and the people there (in some cases) just seem like they don't want to be there, and you can't blame them really. It wasn't some kind of hole, don't get me wrong, it was just sad to see how much more could've been done with it if it had some more money for more books, more staff, etc.

I've already reread Huck Finn. I started, and I just couldn't stop. It's all so wonderful, except maybe the ending, but when I got in there I might've read even faster just so it could all be over. That said, if you don't remember every little detail of it, or haven't ever read it at all, go to the library and get it, you'll be glad you did.

The book being done, I guess you can expect to see another post soon! And I use "you" in the most abstract sense, since I'm fairly sure I'm the only one reading this anymore. Have a good weekend if I don't see all of "you"! Take care of "your" families and work and stuff! Happy Rosh Hashanah! Apples and honey yeah! Pics...



Good tree shade action.



These things were pretty cool.



If it came to life, these would be the front legs.



Uh...it's a wall! Yeah!



And...the entrance again. Ok, sorry for the pictures, I probably didn't need to post them all. But I did it anyway! Ha! Also, if you felt like it, you could maybe donate a couple bucks to support me in the NYC MS Bike Ride? Or not, it's entirely up to you.