Welcome to the kingdom of Readalot again.

I am thoroughly enjoying my free time reading my books about books, such as "The Library at Night." Where else can you digest references to Caliph Omar I or discover such delicious vocabulary words as "peregrinations," "cacophonous," "embrasure" or "quotidian." This book isn't for everyone, but it satisfys the reader who wants meat in every phrase. It encourages personal libraries and establishment of a study.

He makes an interesting observation on our society and a quote would probably be best to illustrate. "Our society accepts the book as a given, but the act of reading---once considered important, as well as potentially dangerous and subversive----is now condescendingly accepted as a pastime, a slow pastime that lacks efficiency and does not contribute to the common good." He goes on to say that should a visitor from the past come to visit us, that he would discover that today's library "is considered less a living entity (great respository of our memory and experience) than an "inconvenient storage room." Not if Alberto Manguel has anything to say about it. He brings new respect to the reader for the book, for the past in relation to the present. He warns advocates of "original thought," that the quoting from books is important. He says, " to quote is to continue a conversation from the past, in order to give context to the present." He adds a quote from Walter Benjamin, "To write history is to cite it."

With that in mind, may I suggest you read some of the newly acquired history books in our library. See Ann Boleyn by Joanna Denny. Here is a book review:

Denny, Joanna.
Anne Boleyn:
A New Life of England's Tragic Queen.
Da Capo. Apr. 2006.
c.384p. illus. bibliog. index.
ISBN 0-306-81474-9. $26. BIOG
Long seen as depraved, deformed, and debauched, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, has intrigued people ever since her execution. She was accused of both witchcraft and adultery by her critics and praised by her admirers for her beauty, intelligence, and piety. This is a popular attempt to redeem Anne, who Denny (author of a fictionalized trilogy on the Tudors) shows to be a highly intelligent, active woman and an instrumental force in the cause of the Reformation in England. Although some might feel that Denny is unfair to Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, as well as her daughter, Mary, she is simply repeating prevalent opinions among scholars. Denny's writing is clear and to the point, though she does have a visible bias against Anne's detractors. This is a definite purchase for public libraries and any medieval and/or Renaissance collections.

Perhaps, I can hear back about a Lady who had the distinction of being one of the two wives of Henry the VIIIth to be beheaded. Perhaps, she read too much? "Off with her head!" Oh, that was Alice in Wonderland. I see what Mr. Manguel means about associations.