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Today I will write of books, because most of my goals for the day all have to do with books in one way or another. Which makes for a lovely day, to be sure, as I am a book fiend if there ever was one. Just ask my Hubby, who has been faced with rooms full of books that have to be dealt with over in Pakistan -- all too precious to just "get rid of." ;-)
Pakistan's capital city had masses of marvelous used books stores, and you could find anything there -- and I did, which is why my collection of precious books over there is so large. I think I'll be getting some of them back, too -- maybe not when DH returns, because he has limited room in his luggage, but he hopes to ship some things, and also a friend who is coming from there in a few months has offered to bring some things. She knows me well, and knows I need my books, now that I have been reminded of what is there!
So today, to start things off, I will read my daily passage from the Best of Books, the Bible. It's a good way to start the day, no matter what kind of goals I might have! Then, I will be cleaning up and organizing the books I have so as to make room for more. I might even dust the shelves! I may get to the library to borrow some books I have been thinking of reading, and I'm taking my son to the Mall to buy shoes. There is a bookstore there, so of course, we will have to stop in. And I need to read a few more times the book I got on Interlibrary Loan, that I have been searching for now for years and finally have in my hands. It has to go back tomorrow, and I am loth to see it go.
We can't truly go back to the past to relive those special moments we remember -- but we can almost do it, through books, especially ones that touch us and hold us firmly throughout the years.
Happy reading today, my friends!
Pakistan's capital city had masses of marvelous used books stores, and you could find anything there -- and I did, which is why my collection of precious books over there is so large. I think I'll be getting some of them back, too -- maybe not when DH returns, because he has limited room in his luggage, but he hopes to ship some things, and also a friend who is coming from there in a few months has offered to bring some things. She knows me well, and knows I need my books, now that I have been reminded of what is there!
So today, to start things off, I will read my daily passage from the Best of Books, the Bible. It's a good way to start the day, no matter what kind of goals I might have! Then, I will be cleaning up and organizing the books I have so as to make room for more. I might even dust the shelves! I may get to the library to borrow some books I have been thinking of reading, and I'm taking my son to the Mall to buy shoes. There is a bookstore there, so of course, we will have to stop in. And I need to read a few more times the book I got on Interlibrary Loan, that I have been searching for now for years and finally have in my hands. It has to go back tomorrow, and I am loth to see it go.
There are a couple of books that I loved as a young person that remain in my memory as special stories that touched my life and that I have never forgotten -- "children's books" they were, but I still love them as an adult. As I got older, the love for those tales did not die, but grew and I sought to reread them, to see if they still held that magic for me they had when I first discovered them. In most cases, it was true -- they were still special, and so when I could, I obtained copies of the books and I can now read them whenever I please -- which is often. Others I found and reread and discovered they weren't as good as I remembered. The magic of the memory wasn't quite spoiled, fortunately, though the experience I had been hoping for fell flat -- I was glad in those cases that I had been able to read before I purchased, because I knew it wasn't important to have a copy of those books that were special then, but no longer.
One book in particular I never forgot, but couldn't find anywhere. I wasn't even sure I remembered the name of the book, and the author was a mystery. But out of the blue a few years ago, the title came to me -- The Nine Questions, by Edward Fenton -- so I did an internet search on it, and rediscovered my book and its author. Only to discover that it is out of print and unavailable for purchase anywhere!! No library I could find had a copy that I could get hold of.
But I didn't give up. I recently discovered in my new place of residence that I could get it on Interlibrary Loan, so I promptly ordered it. It was agonizingly slow in getting here, but at last they called and said it was in. When they handed me the book at the library circulation desk, I had an attack of intense nostalgia to the point of tears -- the cover of the book was exactly as I remembered it!! I was so excited!
I didn't read it right away at first. I admit I was a bit afraid that it would fall flat, like others had -- that the mystery and the remembered sweetness of the tale would turn out to be just a child's book that could no longer be read by an adult. But at last I opened the book and started reading.
I read the entire book in an hour and wept over it throughout, it was so perfectly that tale I had loved and remembered. I couldn't stop reading it. It was as good as my memory had made it -- better, actually, because I discovered there was quite a bit of lovely allegory in there that I had not quite caught when I was young, but which made it even more special this time around. I was able to catch all the nuances while still enjoying the "fairy tale" of a boy who goes out into the world to find out who he really is and why evil people seem bent on hindering his search.
One book in particular I never forgot, but couldn't find anywhere. I wasn't even sure I remembered the name of the book, and the author was a mystery. But out of the blue a few years ago, the title came to me -- The Nine Questions, by Edward Fenton -- so I did an internet search on it, and rediscovered my book and its author. Only to discover that it is out of print and unavailable for purchase anywhere!! No library I could find had a copy that I could get hold of.
But I didn't give up. I recently discovered in my new place of residence that I could get it on Interlibrary Loan, so I promptly ordered it. It was agonizingly slow in getting here, but at last they called and said it was in. When they handed me the book at the library circulation desk, I had an attack of intense nostalgia to the point of tears -- the cover of the book was exactly as I remembered it!! I was so excited!
I didn't read it right away at first. I admit I was a bit afraid that it would fall flat, like others had -- that the mystery and the remembered sweetness of the tale would turn out to be just a child's book that could no longer be read by an adult. But at last I opened the book and started reading.
I read the entire book in an hour and wept over it throughout, it was so perfectly that tale I had loved and remembered. I couldn't stop reading it. It was as good as my memory had made it -- better, actually, because I discovered there was quite a bit of lovely allegory in there that I had not quite caught when I was young, but which made it even more special this time around. I was able to catch all the nuances while still enjoying the "fairy tale" of a boy who goes out into the world to find out who he really is and why evil people seem bent on hindering his search.
We can't truly go back to the past to relive those special moments we remember -- but we can almost do it, through books, especially ones that touch us and hold us firmly throughout the years.
Happy reading today, my friends!
