GEN: a librarian's psyche

[Alice Yucht <AliceInfo@AOL.COM>]

Has anyone else read THE GIANT'S HOUSE (Dial, 1996) by Elizabeth McCracken?
The story's a little weird (lonely small-town librarian gets very involved
with local boy suffering from giantism), but it's McCracken's writing that's
so engrossing.  She (author) was a librarian, and her comments on how a
librarian "thinks" are so insightful/ironic that I found myself laughing out
loud in recognition several times, e.g.:
"It isn't that bitter people become librarians; it's that being a librarian
may turn the most giving person bitter.  We are paid all day to be generous,
and no one recognizes our generosity."  or:
"All librarians, deep down, loathe their buildings.  Something is always
wrong-- the counter is too high, the shelves too narrow, the delivery
entrance too far from the offices.  The hallway echoes.  The light from
windows bleaches books.  In short, libraries are constructed by architects,
not librarians.  Do not trust an architect: he will always try to talk you
into an atrium.
Space is the chief problem.  Books are a bad family -- there are those you
love, and those you are indifferent to . . .  You must house them and make
them comfortable and worry about them when they go on trips and there is
never enough room."

Read and enjoy!

Alice H. Yucht
Heritage Middle School Library (as of 9/97)
Livingston, NJ

AliceInfo@aol.com

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