Huntington Beach Public Library – As an elementary school student, I used to ride my bike here and spend the afternoon reading books and magazines.
For a huge book nerd like me, libraries are a retreat, a sanctuary even. Sometimes, like today, a library can even be an adventure. Some libraries are tiny, old, and in need of fresh paint. Others are vast, with elevators, conference rooms, fancy patrons’ plaques on the wall, row after row of study carrels, sometimes with gardens and statuary on the grounds outside. As long as friendly books line the walls, I’m happy; I feel safe.
When I have time, I like to leave the house to write. With fewer distractions and a deliberate plan that includes getting dressed up and packing supplies (laptop, bottled water, sometimes notes), I usually accomplish a lot more. In the evenings and early mornings, I’ll write at Starbucks, but libraries are my preferred destination. Usually I write in our awesome, recently remodeled local library or sometimes at the university library a 15-minute walk from home. On the weekends, I might visit the regional library in the next city where a friend works as a children’s librarian.
I live 15 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, but today I happened to be in a coastal town called Corona del Mar. I had my laptop with me, so after completing my errand I decided to go on a little writing adventure to a library I’d never visited before. Thanks to Siri, it was easy to find the nearest library just a couple of miles away. I took the elevator up to the second floor and set up my laptop in a cozy alcove near a window overlooking a perfect Southern California day. A short while later a woman joined me in the alcove. She tapped away at her laptop, too, and it was nice to have writerly company.
I had so much fun today on my mini-adventure to a new library that now I want to library-hop every week. Maybe, with each new library I write in, I’ll take a picture and post it on my blog.
–Eve Messenger
Eve Messenger 
I need to go to the Huntington Beach Library! I’ve heard such amazing things about it from my friend
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It’s been years since I’ve been there but, yeah, it’s a pretty library. The grounds are beautiful, like a park.
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What a brilliant idea – library-hopping. Can I join you? I love a good library which is full of atmosphere and still has some books in it. Quite a few local ones barely have any printed material in them which is a bit of a shame. Enjoy your peaceful havens, Eve.😀
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Oh, yes, you are officially invited to library hop with me. We’d have fun determining all our favorite spots in the library and talking about it afterward, hopefully over coffee or tea. 🙂
How sad that many of your local libraries have hardly any printed material. A library isn’t a library without books! 😦 I’ve actually been wondering lately how modern libraries might change because of trends toward digital reading and online research.
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I have wonderful memories of libraries, our school one, wood everywhere and shelves galore with lots of hidden corners. The ones at university astonishing in size, variety and architecture. Even the local ones were excellent and my son and I, when he was little, visited often. I went back recently and the only untouched section was the children’s otherwise lots of computer terminals, the town council has a section in it and computer terminals for checking in and out books. I understand the rational behind the latter but you do miss that face to face contact with another book lover! Yes please to a tea afterwards! Cake too??
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The U.K. is the indisputable master of university libraries. I’d love to get lost in one…or two, or five.
Yes, and cake, too. 🙂
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The Huntington Beach Library is great! They also have a wonderful used book store.
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I’m definitely feeling nostalgic for HB library. I’ll have to swing back down there one of these days.
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I didn’t know you’re from California!
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I didn’t know YOU were from California either. 😮 😀
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SoCal born and raised!
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That’s, like, totally bitchin’, Jennifer. 😉
I was Virginia-born, California-raised.
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That’s awesome!!
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What a great post. I, too, love libraries. I spent a lot of time in our local library and in our public school libraries as I was growing up. Funny, though, I never thought about library hopping, and I’ve never sat and written in a library. Now I have a new adventure awaiting me! Thanks, Eve.
Sorry, I’m on the opposite coast, so I can’t library hop with you physically, but I can mentally. 😉
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Awesome, Kelly. I’ll be taking you along with me in spirit on my library hops. 🙂
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