Try some holiday refreshment and nourishment

Charlie peers up curiously to welcome visitors at the desk, and then wanders off through the library bookshelves.

He leaps onto the photocopier and then pauses to chew on the spider plant at the top of the shelves.

The copycat mascot of Ponoka Public Library isn’t the only one interested on what’s on the shelves.

The cat’s keeper, library manager Norma-Jean Colquhoun, received on Dec. 21 the last shipment of new and interlibrary loans for the year.

A dozen canvas bags of books to sort and disperse, the librarians also received a Christmas present of 46 fresh titles to loan out.

However, classics are somewhat neglected, except for an occasional brush with the tail of Charlie the cat or a literary lover.

“It’s challenging and people aren’t up for a challenge usually. They go home and have a good read. But they’re not necessarily digging deep for meaning so the majority of our circulation is leisure reading,” said Colquhoun.

She believes classics ask higher commitment than a light mystery or fantasy novel.

“Reading classics is something you work towards instead of starting with it,” said Colquhoun.

She points out how people continue to be drawn into Jane Austen, an author in print for the past 200 years, by popular movies like Lost in Austen, or Guy Richie’s tributes to Sherlock Holmes’s creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in the sequel Game of Shadows, currently playing.

“People aren’t fooled by rip-offs and adaptations. the beauty of the original language speaks to people, and they will know if it’s done cheap and dirty,” Colquhoun said.

“There’s enough inappropriately abbreviated words in texting,” said Colquhoun.

She noted that students may learn diversely and digitally, yet rules of grammar still ought to apply, “with clarity and courtesy to be intelligible.”

Colquhoun was making reference to the under-used 90-year-old solid grammar guide of Strunk and White’s writing style manual, cherished by editors and writers alike.

“Writing has to say what you mean, all the flowery adjectives in the world are not going to help it make sense otherwise,” said Colquhoun.

She hopes students pay attention to their English teachers.

“I think we have a responsibility to foster literature by making it available, but you can’t force people to read.”

Colquhoun said, who keeps up-to-date with the interlibrary catalogues for books to entice readers.

However, she hopes people will pick up books for self-improvement, as well as pleasure.

She brought in a shiny covered and updated version of a classic reference book on societal interactions — How to win friends and influence people in a digital age by coal tycoon Dale Carnegie and associates, who helped evolve the timeless advice.

The book is chock-full with skills to communicate with diplomacy and tact to resolve disagreements, build solid and rewarding networks, or to become a well-read persuasive speaker.

“Lots of people read for relaxation, but we try to have a collection that talks to both sides of that coin,” she said.

The breadth and possibilities of the language are rather subtle at times.

“English is so strange and wonderful, there are so many intricacies about it, in ordinary conversation, we don’t realize how intricate it is,” said Colquhoun.

Beginner and experienced readers alike check out an armful of books daily at the library to expand their horizons, though the digital EBook has changed the method of borrowing.

“The Internet is ubiquitous and there are 12-year-olds with IPhones, but it is still reading,” said Colquhoun.

When children become excited with books, Colquhoun likes to see them quickly tune into stories at the library.

“I hope people got lots of books for Christmas, whether in paperback, digital graphic format,” she said.

“You can’t say anything wrong about reading and there’s no downside, even just reading a cereal box in the morning, it’s so basic to our lives,” said Colquhoun.

Try to find an aspect of life unaffected by reading — from labels on energy drinks, recipes, and prescriptions to textbooks, electronics manuals or emails.

“Reading is something so enjoyable, uplifting and necessary. It’s so fundamental to our lives,” said Colquhoun.

“Read more, enjoy more. Don’t put perimeters on it and read for life,” she said.

Listening on Colquhoun’s lap, Charlie seems un-purr-plexed about the books, but they probably create a good place to sleep on people’s laps while they read.