Historical October 1980 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Did you drop the unabridged dictionary on your toe after getting your thumb stuck in the thumb index and vow never to return to the branch?
Did you fail to finish your books in the Summer Reading Club because you “had to go to the store a lot?” Sorry, we can’t accept these. Nor can we accept the misuse or non-use of a great neighborhood natural resource. Look in front of your house.
Fifty-five porches line the street I pass on my way to and from the library between Des Peres and Skinker. There are big ones lush with hanging gardens, furnished with fine wooden benches and comforting stacks of next winter’s logs and there are modest ones with only a door mat.
All kinds and sizes. Only once in two years have I seen a single soul reading on one of them.
Perhaps it is the hour. No one may be inclined to do any reading before 9:00 or between 5:30 and 6. I suspect, however, that few realize how really versatile a place the front porch can be.
It permits you to do several things simultaneously.
You can read and watch your children and pets, get ideas for landscaping or renovation, catch a breeze, watch out for crime, see if your car needs washing, get a tan, and say hello to neighbors and librarians.
Not everything is best read on a porch. Books that are either more serious or much less serious are best read in private.
Choose things that allow for interruptions. Magazines are excellent.
If you have only a few minutes, discover the real and controversial stories behind news stories in the St. Louis Journalism Review. Chuckle over Nora Ephron’s short and wise pieces in Crazy Salad Educate yourself in small doses with Flexner’s fascinating I Hear America Talking, an illustrated history of the American language. Scare yourself in a reassuring place with Stephen King or with Mary Higgins Clark’s newest spellbinder, The Cradle Will Fall.
We dare you to try porch reading (or any other kind for that matter).
The library will supply all necessary equipment except for chairs and motivation.
Originally published in The Paper, October 1980.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1980_10.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
