In this article, the author describes Reading Hall No. 1 of the Russian State Library. He was placed in the first reading hall in the mid-1990s, when the Russian government still honored Soviet traditions of granting certain privileges to certain foreigners. In the first hall, the rules are different. He can request as many books as he wants. He can keep books without renewing them for five days, not three. He can hold them for two months, not two weeks. He can also use a laptop for long periods; it is the only hall with electrical outlets. Most importantly, though--for a guy without a girlfriend, kids, or even a roommate--the reading hall is a place where he can labor at a solitary task, among people. Usually the people at the reading tables are much older men, in down-at-the-heel shoes and threadbare suits, who, one librarian told him, have been coming to the library for 50 years. The author also tells about the plants he donated because he was leaving the country soon and wanted to give something back, something living.