Books, Beautiful Books

Photo by Cheire Elaine 2018

There is an amazing scent created by the combination of paper, ink and binding glue. And the atmosphere. Nice music playing, people quietly browsing. Students sitting on the floor with books in their laps while nearby a child sits in his mother's lap for a story. Small cafe tables might have a couple sipping coffee discussing their latest reads, and overstuffed chairs may be the place where someone with a stack of books reads snippets before making a decision on the newest title they will take home. Books are yoga for the brain. They cause the soul to go deeper, the imagination to engage wilder, the brain to grow wiser. And that smell. The smell of adventure. 

Not long ago, a good friend mentioned that she doesn't have time to read. She does, however, have time to watch The Bachelor. Another friend said his eyesight is too poor for book-reading, yet he plays around on his phone at every opportunity. Author friends are no longer writing novels, but writing about how to write and how to market what you write. 

What is happening to the books? 

As a child, perhaps second grade, my father came home with Treasure Island. Beautiful illustrations and words challenged my young mind and passed endless moments curled up by a window. The Secret Garden is the next book I remember being a favorite, and the summer of my fifth grade year I read Christy cover to cover twice through in the first week of vacation. 

My favortie memory of books happened on a prairie in Wyoming where the nearest town was 20 miles away, where television was non-existent and cell phones were something in a scifi movie. My grandmother and I would spend countless hours reading books. When I moved to the city, we mailed our latest reads back and forth because books were what we bonded over. 

My father-in-law and I shared a special bond over books. We often read the same books at the same time and had lengthy conversations about authors and storylines and style. 

I have a similar experience with one of my sons-in-law, as we share a favored author and the excitement over each new title gives us something to look forward to. I've another son-in-law who reads books far beyond my intelligence level, but we talk about books and writing and books about writing. 

There is a special bond that develops over books. Discussing books and taking apart the inner world of words and putting them back together again is a worthy way to spend time. Books open the imaginations of children as they build pictures of what is happening in the pages. The parent is the catalyst of creativity and wisdom as they read with them. 

Authors and readers. That is a special bond. A reader gets to know an author as they bond over characters written into carefully chosen words on the page. 

Paper, ink and binding glue. A mug of tea or a glass of wine. An overstuffed chair or pillows propped up behind you. Nothing is required. No proper attire, no assigned time of day. Nowhere else to be but in the pages. 

Books, beautiful books.