My Life and Books

Anybody who knows me probably knows that books are a very important part of my life. I've been thinking about the different ways that books have played a role in my life recently, and how they relate to aspects of my life abroad (like how I'm trying to place less value in material things and how frustrating being an undergraduate at Trinity college can be!) So, here are a few stories.

-When I'm home, I'm somewhat of a book hoarder. I usually only buy books that I have already read or are from an author or series I know I like. (If I want to just find random books to read I usually go to the public library). Now that I'm away from home and I can only bring back what will fit in my suitcase, this attitude has changed somewhat. I've been buying most books with the intention of reading them and then getting rid of them. I particularly like a bookstore that I found over here called Hodges and Figgis, they have a section where everything is 99 cents!

Such a magical place

I think this has been good for me. Sometimes I tend to put too much value in owning something simply for the sake of owning it. In general going to college and studying abroad has given me a different attitude about all my "stuff", and how much of it is actually necessary.

I fully intend to get rid of most of these before I leave Ireland,
but it just doesn't feel like home without a shelf full of books.

-Historically, my usual genres have been fiction and fantasy. However, I have found myself changing more in this regard lately. A lot more biographies and non-fictions have been finding their way onto my radar, mostly with positive results.

I read this book recently, its the true story
of two men trying to find the deepest cave
on earth. I highly recommend it!

In the same vein, I recently started listening more to audio books. I was convinced for many years that I didn't like audio books. I didn't like the voices, I didn't like how slow they moved, I didn't like how it was so much harder to reread a sentence or paragraph. I have been realizing that audio books can have their own place though, such as during road trips when I tend to get a bit car sick and while doing laundry or other activities. They will never replace physical books for me, but its just another way that my literary horizons have been expanding. (I feel like such an adult, actually enjoying non-fiction books and listening to books while I fold my laundry?)

-The library at Trinity is huge, but as an undergraduate taking advantage of its resources can be frustrating. For one thing, we are not allowed to check out a majority of the books (they have this agreement with publishing companies in the UK which means they acquire a lot of books, but one of the conditions is that undergrads can't check them out). Even when I do find books that I am allowed to check out, I am only able to have 4 out at a time. It couldn't be more different than the Wellesley library! It has made for some very long days in the library doing research. This is one of the reasons why Trinity has made me grateful that I go to an exclusively undergrad college at home. There aren't any students at Wellesley that have more privileges than I do.

This is the "Old Library" at Trinity.
Unfortunately we don't actually study in here
anymore, our actual libraries are rather less
magical.

-Soon after I arrived in Ireland, I remembered the fact that the first Harry Potter book was published under at different title in the UK, so I thought it would be fun to buy a copy here. (It is called "The Sorcerer's Stone" in America, originally it was published as "The Philosopher's Stone".) It was really interesting to read it in its original edition, it made me want to re-read the American version and see how different they are. There are a few UK spellings that I was familiar with, but a few really surprised me. (For example, did you know that "pajamas" in the US is spelled "pyjamas" here?) Just another cultural experience I'm trying to soak up before I go back home!

As of tomorrow I only have 3 weeks left here, which is crazy. More to come soon!