We discuss what we are reading and compare our favourite authors. We absorb the beauty of their words, laugh and cry with their characters. We learn about life from between their covers.
Our imagination builds on descriptions so that the very act of reading becomes a collaboration with the writer. We give of our physical selves as we read, straining our eyes far too late into the night. The texture under our fingers, the rustle of the turning pages, the sharp smell of new books and the mustiness of old speak to our other senses. We number a few books among our dearest friends, and it never matters to us how tattered and battered they get. To us they are still beautiful and always will be.
I have started recycling some of my books. It is very difficult. Time for someone else to enjoy the pleasure, time for me to lighten my possessions. I will thank the books with which I’ve enjoyed a pleasant acquaintance and hope they find the right readers. I will sink back into my home with my old friends and we will breathe a sigh of relief together.
There is a wonder in reading Braille that the sighted will never know: to touch words and have them touch you back.
Jim Fiebig
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello. I am here by way of Joyce from Blunderview. One of the most difficult tasks of my de-cluttering frenzy was sorting through my ‘old friends’..my books. Now my ‘to read’ pile takes up more of the bookcases than my ‘have read’ pile. I belong to http://www.paperbackswap.com. I just finished reading ‘speak softly, she can hear’ and enjoyed it so much that I contemplated keeping it…however…when it showed up as requested on ‘the swap’ I knew someone else would have the opportunity to read it and enjoy it as I did. It’s just hard to give away books though, isn’t it?
Hi Danielle, welcome and thanks for your comment. I just had a quick look at your blog and will enjoy looking reading it at a bit more leisure later.
Paperbackswap looks really interesting. I’ve also used Bookcrossing in the past.