Snow, Mud and a Little Free Library…

Sauk Ridge Trail LFL (225x300)It was a gloomy morning in early March – Daylight Saving’s Eve – plenty of snow on the ground, but just warm enough to be melting a bit with a hint of spring in the moist air.  I’d found a Little Free Library on the map and figured I’d pedal over and see what books were currently available.  Unfortunately, the trail to this library was still completely covered in a foot of snow, so I had to search elsewhere, eventually coming to a different library in a new neighborhood on my hometown’s suburban far west side.  The library had been shoveled out nicely, leaving an impressive patch of mud right in front of it, suggesting numerous recent visitors.

Brightly decorated with a collection of cute wild critters – even a couple honey bees – the library was a touch of color that stood out from the surrounding slush, ice and haze.  I opened the library door and found a wide assortment inside: a few kids’ books, a couple Mr. Food cookbooks and some heavyweight reading like The Metamorphosis and The Catcher in the Rye.  I browsed a bit and then displayed my ignorance by picking River of Death by Alistair MacLean, thinking that I’d actually selected a book by Norman MacLean – the author who writes so beautifully about fly fishing in Montana.  It wasn’t until I was stashing the book in my bike bag that I realized my mistake and by that point I was a little too embarrassed (and muddy) to open the library back up.  In place of this short novel by the author of The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare, I left behind a paperback edition of John McPhee’s In Suspect Terrain – the second book in The Annals of the Former World series – a book about US geology by one of the pioneers of creative non-fiction.

Overall, a successful book borrowing excursion, resulting in what looks like a good read for a relaxing day on an idyllic Caribbean beach with a cool umbrella-sporting drink at my side.

photo by BookusBinder

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