Even before I learned to read, I was well on my way to being seduced by books. My mom used to read me, my brothers, and my sister stories. We each had our favorite books - the ones we wanted to hear over and over again. I don't remember the title of the first book I fell for, but if you asked my mom, she might be able to tell you.
Learning to read made the seduction complete. I read voraciously. As wonderful as it was to have stories read to me, it was infinitely better to be able to read to myself. Now I picked the time, set the pace, chose the books. Since my mom was a former preschool teacher, we had scads of books to choose from at home - the Little Golden books, the Beatrix Potter stories, Henry and the Purple Crayon, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. My hometown had a small library, and the town librarian was like a third grandmother to us. When they built the new community center and moved the library into it, Cora let each of us kids take dozens of books home with us so that they'd have fewer books to move. We got to keep them for months.
As a child I read and reread the Mandy books and the original Nancy Drew mysteries, the Little House on the Prairie books and countless others I can't recall. There were books that you could look at the check out slip for and see my name and my brothers and sisters repeatedly signed on the card. In our age category, my older brother and I took turns winning the summer reading contest.
By the time I was in junior high, I had moved past books for young adults and moved on to adult books. I needed new stories, new adventures, and new characters to fall in love with. We didn't have a lot of money to travel, so books took me to places and times that I couldn't go to on my own. On countless nights I would stay up, reading, long past my bed time. Just 5 more minutes, Mom... but I'm almost done with the page, the chapter, the book... I just have to know how it ends.
Since I was seduced at such a young age, I guess it should have been no surprise to anyone that I eventually chose English as my major in college. I love waiting for the story to unfold, for the characters to weave their way into my imagination. Studying literature for 6 years taught me so much about how to read and only served to accelerate my fall.
I love the feel of a book's weight in my hand. I love the way the feel of the pages against my skin. I love the flip-ability (as my fellow sister of the book calls it) of the book. I love the way the spines all line up so neatly on a book shelf.
Sometimes when I'm walking through the stacks in my library, I'll run my fingers lightly across their spines as I walk past. Maybe one day all of their knowledge will seep into me.
When certain people at work start to go on about how e-books are the new thing and that the book is dying, it grieves me. I grieve because the beauty of the book is not simply in the words on the page. So much of the seduction of reading is lost when words are transferred to the screen. Their power and allure do not reach me.
I hope, possibly foolishly, that the book is not a dying medium. I want future generations to fall for the book's seductive charms and be pulled into worlds other than their own. But maybe my hope is a selfish one, one of self-preservation, for as Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams back in 1815, "I cannot live without books."
5 comments:
this is lovely.
i, too, hope everything doesn't go electronic only. we hear that all the time about newspapers. but i think you build memories from something you can hold, something you can save. computer printouts just aren't that special.
I remember when electronic pianos and music synthesizers came on the scene. Everyone thought that would be the end of real instruments. Not so. When I listen to music, I still notice if you can hear the sound of fingers sliding down the guitar strings. There is greater appreciation now (at least by me) for musicians who make their music with 'real' instruments.
I think the same will hold true for books. I'm thinking the better books will be the ones to make it to print. Anyone can put an E-book on the internet. To be printed though, you've got to pass through a finer scrutiny.
And then too, aren't we always being told we need a paper copy of really important stuff? Computers crash. Documents and files get lost or deleted. And aren't we learning that doing too much on the computer is harmful to the eyes? And what about learning styles? Not every child (or adult for that matter) is a visual learner. Some are auditory learners, some are kinesthetic learners, and most are a combination of the three. And how easy is it to take a computer out to read on the big rock? or in the car? or under the covers with a flashlight? You have opened a big can of worms here, missy!
In a word (or two) "Yay Books!!!!"
It'll never happen. You don't take a computer to read on the beach in Jamaica. As long as everyone is buying books and people are making money off them, they'll keep printing them, and I believe people will keep buying them.
this was a VERY well-written post.
What a great post! I hope we never entirely become a book-less, paper-less society. Books become friends.
Awwww! You know I could never live without the flipability! I'm even somewhat reluctant to listen to books, even though the oral tradition preceded the written word. IT IS THAT SMELL! There is nothing like it. Then again, as I am in the middle of a gigantic biography weeding project, there is nothing worse than the smell of rotten bindings. I still couldn't give up the written word. Thanks for the post! I love you, sister of the book!
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