My Ian Grindrod Memorial Library
According to Cicero, if you have a library and a garden, you have everything you need. While one might argue that there are some more prosaic needs that must be satisfied before either a library or a garden becomes a top priority, I do appreciate Cicero’s sentiment.
And I know I’m not alone with my idea of the library itself: that wild, sprawling and chaotic – or, perhaps, methodical, logical and organised – thing that emerges through the accumulation of books over time.
Part of the value of a personal library lies in the way it can map and help to shape your personal identity and intellectual pathways, changing and growing with you, getting larger all the time while at the same time more selective – a tiny droplet in a seemingly limitless world of books.
Libraries have a habit of growing a bit wild over time but that's all right, too: a library should be a little bit chaotic and contradictory, although it can also become a burden. That’s why it makes sense to periodically give some thought to which books you really want to carry with you through life’s journey. Like a garden, a library will tend to grow richer through strategic pruning, a process which I have not yet arrived at.
Is ONE library enough? OF COURSE NOT! But I leave that for another day!
