Seeing as Iowa is a UNESCO City of Literature, it’s hardly surprising that I see books at every turn. As I love reading, that’s just another bonus of the University of Iowa.
When I left Malaysia, my book collection was one of the things I most regretted leaving behind; I miss my books more than anything aside from my family and friends. When I went to Kuala Lumpur for two years to study my International Baccalaureate, I transported two whole bookshelves of books from my hometown, Kuching, over the course of the two years, requiring more than five trips to bring all of them (including new ones accumulated in the meantime) back. But when I came to Iowa, I couldn’t bring any of my books with me. They are something that I am definitely homesick for!
However, in the six weeks that I have been in Iowa, I have already bought nine books. In my defence, seven of them were for class…but then again, the entire Harry Potter series is so much more than textbooks for me!
Since J.K.Rowling’s latest book in the Cormoran Strike series, Lethal White, came out on September 18, I have been desperate to read it. To my excitement, the novel appeared in Prairie Lights (one of Iowa’s bookshops) the day of its release! Only downside…it isn’t autographed (Grrrrr….). Although if it had been autographed, I wonder if it would say “Robert Galbraith” or “J.K.Rowling”!
Since I am a student of the Literary Readings course in which the students are supposed to attend readings all around the city, I have been to Prairie Lights many times in the past few weeks; I appreciate its beauty. But one day, I took the opportunity to explore it, as opposed to just sitting down and listening to a reader and really got to relish how books make me feel like I’m at home.
(This was after hunting through the Main Library of the University of Iowa and going up and down the many flights of stairs at least four times because I couldn’t find the books that I wanted…)
Even though both the Main Library and Prairie Lights are further than I would like from my dorm room, I really appreciate them both for what they are worth. The Main Library has five floors of seemingly endless books with increasingly quiet floors the higher you get, the Food for Thought Cafe where flex meals are accepted (yay!) and comfortable tables and seats. Prairie Lights has posters signed by authors, the latest books filling three floors, tasty hot chocolate that you can drink in a cafe where Robert Frost and Sherwood Anderson once sat, drinking their favourite drinks and sharing their writing.
I’m really grateful to live in a town where books are almost as plentiful as air. And if I can’t find a book that I want (doubtful), Amazon awaits….But now I gotta go, because books awaits..
Happy reading!
Signing off,
Emily a.k.a. Hermione Jean Granger…(I wish!)