The English Library

Dear Ol' Kibbutz Revivim has a small English library for all the English-speaking immigrants and Ulpanists here. And let me just say that I've been making good use of it. I adore it so much, that I'm going to dedicate this entire blog post to elaborate on it's fantasticness.

It's not a huge library, about the size of a college dorm room or a large bathroom, but the selection always seems to be excellent. The librarian, Manya, grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and is always full of suggestions and stories. She picks out new books that have gotten good reviews or look especially interesting, getting several new books each month. To make room for them in the small library, she takes out books that haven't been read in years (although she never gets rid of classics).

If you're looking for something specific and unusual, you may not be able to find it... But I've never really found this to be true. Everything I've looked for has been there... But the result of the purges is that every book on the shelves looks appealing and interesting. Whereas in most libraries, you're bogged down by hundreds of poorly written novels that weren't even a success when they came out, here, you can just walk among the shelves and read the back of two or three books before finding something fascinating. I've used the free time on the kibbutz to brush up my reading list.

I've read Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Agatha Christie, Sylvia Plath, Thomas Friedman, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, and a bunch of other lighter tomes as well. Right now, I'm reading Madame Bovary and also a light novel that just piqued my interest.

You can keep the books for as long as you like and there's a "two books at a time" rule, but once you get to know Manya, it's not heavily enforced... I also recommend books for the elderly residents of the Kibbutz who are native English speakers. Manya tells me what kind of books they like and I recommend some that I've read. She sends the books to the older residents weekly, so that they don't have to come in to the library to get books.

All in all, it's a pretty fantastic part of Kibbutz life!