Visiting Time: 2:00-2:45PM
Did I get lost on my way? Yes (First Google Maps, now MapQuest leads me astray.)
Book Checked Out: Consider the Lobster: and other essays (David Foster Wallace)
Book Selection: 3 bookmarks
Seating: 4 bookmarks
Staff: 4 bookmarks
Architecture/Atmosphere: 3 bookmarks
Total: 14 bookmarks
Bryan accompanied to this library, my first such visit with a companion. The above rankings reflect our collective opinion. We would've given the architecture/atmosphere four bookmarks, except parking was really difficult, and spots were narrow. The library shares a lot with several restaurants and companies.
We talked with a half-time clerk name Peter, who said the library was opened in 1997. Local residents had raised $6M worth of seed money to begin the library's construction. The RB branch has the largest collection of large-print books, which Peter said was due to a wealthy, elderly, visually impaired local woman who donated money.
RB is also the second-busiest branch in terms of circulation. Apparently, the busiest is Bryan's and my home branch, Carmel Valley. We're number one! We're number one! I like to think I have a not-insignificant part in that top standing.
I checked out David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster, and read its titular essay. It begins with a discussion of the Maine Lobster Festival, but ultimately shifts to a discourse on whether lobsters feel pain when boiled. Included is a discussion of both physical pain and mental anguish, and also what it means for a human to inflict this suffering on another creature. It was heartbreaking to read such essay about suffering, especially knowing the author would go on to commit suicide four years later.
Pictures (with an older, non-busted camera):
(Water feature just inside the door.)
(Main entrance.)
(Cozy fireplace.)
1 comment:
Actually, this branch opened around summer 1996.
The nearby Carmel Mountain Ranch Library opened in 1997.
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