Director’s notebook June, 2009~
One of the best, I mean the very, very best things about working in a library with a wonderful book collection like Barrington Library, is to be able to prowl the bookstacks looking for an unknown book to read. I have found so many wonderful books over the years this way, books I’d never heard of, written by authors I did not know. That was exactly the case when I came across Bachelor Brothers’ Bed and Breakfast, by Bill Richardson, earlier this month. I admit, the cover got me. It had a small sketch of my favorite “still life” : a steaming mug, and an open book. There are few things I enjoy as much as curling up with a good book and a hot mug of tea, so the image on the cover of Bachelor Brothers’ Bed and Breakfast really reached out to me. How can I describe this quirky, delightful, odd little book, except to say that it is erudite and silly, believable and unlikely, funny and deeply touching, all at the same time? Imagine if you will, a slightly worn down, charming, out of the way, bed and breakfast establishment, on a small island found between Vancover Island and mainland Canada, run by two fraternal twins, who know how to comfort and cosset those world weary travelers fortunate enough to find the place, who really,really need a break from the crazy world. Imagine too that the brothers cater to people who love to read, long to read, live to read. What results is a slim volume composed of the memories and meditations of Hector and Virgil, the bachelors of the title, interspersed with the musings of their sundry assortment of guests, with an occasional poem, piquant literary quote, or book list thrown in. This delightful blend of bookish wit and homegrown wisdom goes down as smoothly as a perfectly brewed cup of English Breakfast tea. My only regret when reading about the bachelor brothers and their loquascious pet parrot named Mrs. Rochester, their delightful cat named Waffles and their imposing, even if long dead Mother, is that the book was not at least five times as long. But that ‘s not true: my much deeper regret is that the Bachelor Brothers’ Bed and Breakfast is fiction, not a non-fiction travel guide or a memoir. What wouldn’t I do to stumble on such a place, with a suitcase full of books, and a couple of months to curl up and read them? However, the best books take us where we want to go, without ever having to leave our comfortable chairs, and that’s what Bachelor Brothers does. If you would love a getaway in a quiet corner of the world ,in the company of people who love books as much as you do, check out the Bachelor Brothers’ Bed and Breakfast. I hear the muffins are marvelous!
