A Room of One’s Own

I’ve always wanted to live in a house that had its own library. In England last May, we visited loads of estates and country homes. It was the libraries that fascinated me; huge rooms lined from floor to celing with book shelves, cozy nooks, window seats, and overstuffed chairs to curl up in. Ladders lined the walls so you could climb up and reach the books up by the ceiling, which was always a good twelve to fifteen feet up. If you grabbed a book, you could hide in a corner, curled up in a chair, facing a window that looked out across the gardens, the moors, or the sheep fields. Virginia Woolf wrote that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”. It’s not just for writing fiction though, or even just for women. Everyone needs a room of their own; a place to curl up with a good book and your own thoughts; a little solitude, a sanctuary.

At the moment, coming into the library early in the morning is as close as I’ll get to having my own private library. While the building is dark and empty, I get to commune alone with these my friends, the stories of the world, the minds and lives and imaginations of people stretching back for centuries. I can walk among the shelves, running my hands over the spines of books, looking for old friends to sit in front of an evening fire with, or new ones who I long to get to know. A book is like a room of one’s own, a place of refuge, learning, and self-discovery. They can take you to another place or time, submerge you in someone else’s experience and thoughts, or open you to new ideas and ways of being.

So, for a cold winter evening of finding refuge in a good book here are some suggestions. There’s always Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. It’s not an easy read, in my opinion, but thought provoking and interesting to see what’s changed since she wrote it and what hasn’t. Or try a classic. There’s been a rush on To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee lately and it’s no wonder. It’s one of those books I can read every once in a while and it still grips me. Or for a little light mystery try Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. I love this mystery where a flock of sheep figure out who killed their shepherd and then have to find a way to make the humans understand them. I’m partial to sheep, of course, but it’s still a fun read.

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot is a favorite of mine, but be prepared to be caught laughing out loud at the antics of this Yorkshire veterinarian and his neighbors. For something newer there’s Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen, the story of Janzen’s returning home to recuperate after a car accident. As an academic who left her family’s religion behind, Janzen finds herself once again immersed in Mennonite culture. Her account of going home, even if only temporarily, is hilarious.

For some good non-fiction, Wendell Berry’s classic The Unsettling of America is worth the effort. It’s not an easy or fast read, but Berry’s thoughts on American agriculture are as timely now as when they were first written in 1977. Maybe even more timely. Bluebird: Women and the New Psychology of Happiness by Ariel Gore is an interesting take on the new “happiness” industry. Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich is also worth a look. For something totally new, (and no, I haven’t read it yet) reading I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity by Izzeldin Abuelaish seems like a really good way to spend the winter.

So even if you can’t have your own private library or a room of your own, find a good chair, a warm spot and a good book. It will be almost like having “a room of your own.”