Library Hotel

There's a line in an INXS's song Heaven Sent that goes "She says she works in the library uptown". For the first dozen or so times I heard the song, what I heard was 'she says she works in the library hotel.' The line used to confuse me. Library Hotel? What was that? I did know that as a librarian, and a book fanatic, the idea appealed to me. This afternoon I found out that the Library Hotel actually exists. I think I'll start planning my trip now.

The Library Hotel is a small boutique library in Manhattan. The lobby is decorated with bookshelves. The public areas are filled with reading chairs, lamps, and more bookcases. Each room is filled with books by subject. And even more fun, the ten floors are themed on the Dewey Decimal system. One floor is filled with History and Geography themes, another focuses on literature, the fifth floor should be science related.... I'm so in love with the idea of staying in my favorite classification section (we all have them).

I love the card catalog wall behind the reception desk.

To add to that, the hotel is beautiful. The Poetry garden below is the kind of place I could imagine sitting with a glass of red wine and a book of Shakespeare sonnets or Charles Bukowski poems. There is a writers area which includes some rather spectacular views. Or sit down in the medieval themed restaurant and watch the people go by which reading Chaucer (not that I've ever read Chaucer). This is my type of place. I really do need to plan a trip. Although Manhattan has never really drawn me in, this hotel would be worth the visit.