A Day to Celebrate those who Love Books eh? Tomorrow is #BookLoversDay … and I tried to think of a witty quotation or amusingly appropriate meme. Having struggled for an absurd amount of time, I decided on this one …
“Where is human nature so weak as in a bookstore?” – Henry Ward Beecher
I’m a reader, always have been, cannot imagine my life without books. But there are plenty for whom this pastime is simply absent. Apart from those who are unable to read – having problems with sight or dyslexia – to say I find it incomprehensible would be an understatement. I’m not for one moment suggesting that it makes them any less, it’s more that I wonder where they go when they need succour, entertainment, information, stimulation, and all the other wonderful things us readers find in books?
It is true that I don’t read a daily newspaper and, if it wasn’t for Himself, I’d probably watch no television at all. Other people can be a good source of all the things one finds in a book, so I can see an active social life being a positive alternative. Except that there’s something restful, something calming about withdrawing into a book, which you don’t get when surrounded by people. I know that sounds like something only an introvert could say; unexpectedly so when I’ve always been decidedly on the extrovert side of the fence. Even recently, when I’ve been allowing little bits of introversion to sit comfortably alongside the gadabout of old …
My idea of the perfect home has a limited criteria – but lots & lots of full bookcases is one. I know a Kindle allows you to download something to read so long as there’s wi-fi available, and I fervently hope that libraries will survive the ever constant rounds of cost-cutting, ‘cos there’s something comforting about real books, just sat there, ever ready, ever available … isn’t there?
And despite being a Kindle devotee for its convenience, I tend to buy real books as gifts, you know, as some form of penance for not having the room for them in my home … quite yet! But I will, one day, for it is high up on my to-do list!
To close, here are a few of the quotations that were in the mix …
“A book is a dream you hold in your hand” – Neil Gaiman
“I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense” – Harold Kushner
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking” – Haruki Murakami
“A book is a device to ignite the imagination” – Alan Bennett
Till next year then, this book lover offers her thanks to writers, editors and publishers everywhere for making her world a vastly better place.
© Debra Carey, 2017
debsdespatches.com 
I like books, obviously. I’m a wordy girl, so I have to– it’s in my blood. I like the Haruki Murakami quote because it’s the summation of why I’m reluctant to join Good Reads. I want to read in a seemingly arbitrary way, that suits me, rather than being in the know, like everyone else, about the latest and greatest.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is perfect, isn’t it? I apply it to all aspects of life, but especially to the research I do for my life coaching. I get ideas and inspiration from all kinds of odd places, and I think that’s really important otherwise it’s all too easy to end up becoming more and more narrow in your thinking.
I mess with the Goodreads algorithms by genre hopping in my reading and by linking up with people whose interests are all over the shop. I tend to be inspired by the reviews of those I’ve linked up, with rather than being guided by those generated by Goodreads themselves, as they seem rather random and odd.
LikeLike