Every so often Leichhardt Town Hall hosts a number of exciting events and sales within its…read morepremises. No, I'm not talking about voting, though that is pretty exciting. 'Wow! You mean I get to have a say in how the world is run?' "No, but you do get a vote." I'm talking about book fairs, vintage clothing sales and for some strange reason, ski gear. I'm always excited when I walk past the intersection of Marion Street and Norton to find a banner tied to the public school proclaiming, 'Leichhardt Book Fair!' I small rush of blood goes to my head and I begin to plan how I will get there first. It's important to get there early to make sure all the best books haven't been snatched up already. I get there on the day it opens, before it opens. Scores of people wait outside, those bastards! The doors open and we pile in. A pulsating mass of people trying to both see all the books, but take the time to look at the books in front of them with enough detail not to miss a pearler. We're animals, our instincts turn to the hunt, the hunt for good literature, manners and pleasantries are thrown by the way side and pushing and shoving take their place. There are fiction books, theatre, military, children's, CD's, records and sheet music. I always go straight for the kids section and let me tell you why, the Seuss books are always the first to go.

I have a strange, or maybe not so strange, perhaps you can help me with this. I have a tendency to…read morewant to own a book that I read. To keep it on my shelf once I've read it as a trophy of my fierce encounter with those literary pages so thoroughly steeped in ink. Every now and again I'll read a book think 'trash' and palm it off to a friend or relative for them to do with it what they will, but most of the time I like the collection on my bookshelf to read like a list of knowledge that I have sucked from the pages and sewn into my brain. The severed heads of the books I have read on the pinewood shelves as a warning to all books that enter my house. I will read you! With that said, I have from time to time utilised the library situated just up the road in the Italian Forum; for books, magazines and for CD's. While they don't have a gigantic range, I have not failed to find a book that I was after. I put that to good purchasing on the libraries part, but also to savvy book finding skills on my part. Fiction, fact, musical CD's all catalogued as you would expect from a library, and that said, can we assume that it is rare for a library to break the mould and wreak of independent thought and renegade cataloguing? Yes it is rare, and not apparent here. It's a library, it lends books and it provides work space for people to do research and learn. There are author talks and book clubs and even a space that showcases local art. I'm going to give it a four because it is a good library albeit not a very original one.

Love this library - they have a great selection of books, especially nonfiction. The library is…read moremuch bigger than it looks - you could spend hours in there!