I've been thinking about yesterday's post. My time in the library during my lunch break was so great that I repeated it today. I almost felt naughty - like I was playing hooky or something. But it felt good too.
But I've been thinking about why it is that I feel so comfortable when surrounded by books. Why a book in my hand feels as though it belongs there (well, except paperbacks - they just feel weird, but I adapt.) Why an afternoon with a book feels like time well spent.
I was raised with a mother reading to me. I was raised watching my mother read. But I wasn't pushed to read. But I found an escape in the chapters of a novel that I didn't have anywhere else. When I read I become the characters. If they are scared, my heart races. If they are sad, I cry. If they are humiliated, I blush.
I've kept books - even ones that I wasn't overly fond of - because I dream of a room in a house someday that is filled with books. Surrounded by verbal depictions of all the adventures I've experienced and all the literary people I have met. Books fill the hole in me that nothing else does - and so I've held them close in a completely OCD way. But I'm ready to start saying goodbye to some of my old friends. At least the ones that were given to me and hold no sentimental value.
And, to compensate, I can walk next door to the library and feel enveloped in books.
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Well said. It almost scary to know how much alike we think about some things. I remember when I needed an escape to a place all my own and books took me to that place although different places. I think in the last 2 months I have spent close to $200.00 on books that I felt I couldn't live without Oh my goodness, did I just say that?!
ReplyDeleteI have this hang-up about getting books from the library and having to return them on a due date. That makes me feel uneasy, so I have been buying them unless the book is one that I am not sure about.
When the boys were home we used the library regularly and now going there brings back all the good memories from that time. Yay for books and libraries!
I spent over $1,000 last year in books - probably about the same the year before. It's my one expensive vice.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to curb that vice for a couple years and am getting more and more successful at it. I'm aiming to be more minimalist, especially if I'm going to be moving around with my military hubby :) So I took some books that I knew I wouldn't read again to the used bookstore and got store credit and then used that credit to buy more. I still have shelves of books I haven't read yet....My self-imposed rule a few years ago was that I wasn't allowed to buy any new ones till I've read the ones I have. I haven't kept to that rule exactly, but I've gotten way better. I no longer feel the need to own things...Now getting rid of stuff is starting to feel really good.
ReplyDeleteHahah! Terri, exactly my thoughts. I think I will check out trading in used books for store credit. I have never heard of that (but then, it's Battle Creek!).
ReplyDeleteI hear you Bonnie. We have to pay $125 a year to the library to use it thinking it would be cheaper than buying books. I have to say that it does have it's benefits, but I still have to buy books to highlight in them.