Former East Boston resident Brian Winston McCarthy, who now resides in San Diego, remembers his days checking out books at the Orient Heights library. He recalls the small branch library as the the place that introduced him to the joys of literature and a life of the mind. Recently, McCarthy dropped us a note at eastboston.com:
The closing of the Orient Heights Library saddens me. It was in its stacks that I found that reading could be fun. I came across a series of novels (by an author whose name I've long forgotten) which told sea story adventures for young boys. Each book was taken home (739 Bennington) and read faster than the ink could dry on the librarian's stamp showing return date. And this would lead to Yeats, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Joseph Conrad, to name a few. The memories are rich. And thanx to all those nameless library workers, whose work and positive attitudes, made a young boy's reading experiences joyous. Brian Winston McCarthy San Diego
It's a shame that the Mayor is closing a branch library in East Boston. Soon, after all the deliberations, no one will be able to borrow books from the stacks in Orient Heights. But the memories will remain -- all the way to San Diego.
