Bookroom

In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.

There was no outcry when the ancient bookrooms of the oldest colleges were stripped of those precious volumes preserved in their sheepskin covers and fine board cases which had been handled so lovingly by librarian and scholar.

She is forced into making these sacrifices by the aggressive neglect of the school’s administrators, who won’t even let her take books from the bookroom.