When I was two my mother bought me my first book. It was 'Puppies and Kittens'. "What have you bought her a book for?" exclaimed my father, "She can't even read!"
Now I have several large bookcases well filled - two layers deep in some places. Few are as heavy as your tombs, I suspect, and many are children's books - which I keep partially so my grandchildren have wholesome reading material (getting harder to find in the library these days) and partly because they are old friends.
You might relate, as I do, to Arnold Lobel's poem:
Humans are kinaesthetic and tactile creatures, and as you say, for some of us there are few pleasures greater than that of the physicality of reading a book. Among other things, reading has preserved my sanity from a very early age. I've always owned a lot of books and some years ago when we made one room in our new home a library to collect our combined tomes in one place, my mother looked around, sniffed, and said "You've got too many books". The idea that we might re-read old favourites was obviously a novel concept, but especially during periods of illness and depression there's nothing like reacquainting oneself with an old friend, even when it's falling to bits with use.
When I was two my mother bought me my first book. It was 'Puppies and Kittens'. "What have you bought her a book for?" exclaimed my father, "She can't even read!"
Now I have several large bookcases well filled - two layers deep in some places. Few are as heavy as your tombs, I suspect, and many are children's books - which I keep partially so my grandchildren have wholesome reading material (getting harder to find in the library these days) and partly because they are old friends.
You might relate, as I do, to Arnold Lobel's poem:
Books to the ceiling,
books to the sky;
My piles of books
are a mile high.
How I love them,
how I need them.
I'll have a long beard
by the time I read them.
Thanks for the observations Sally. My grandsons borrow my books because some of them are out of print and hard to get
Humans are kinaesthetic and tactile creatures, and as you say, for some of us there are few pleasures greater than that of the physicality of reading a book. Among other things, reading has preserved my sanity from a very early age. I've always owned a lot of books and some years ago when we made one room in our new home a library to collect our combined tomes in one place, my mother looked around, sniffed, and said "You've got too many books". The idea that we might re-read old favourites was obviously a novel concept, but especially during periods of illness and depression there's nothing like reacquainting oneself with an old friend, even when it's falling to bits with use.
No such thing as "too many books" although the prospect of downsizing fills me with dread.
Downsizing is confronting- especially when it comes to books. Airport Blockbusters from way back are perhaps a good way to start.
An interesting and informative review with delightful little personal asides.