Reading hasn't always been a pleasure. In fact, I grew up in a home that had few books... mostly, because owning a book was a luxury. We did have a few How To, religious, children and comic books later on, but a proper book case with books on a shelf, just didn't exist.
I was thinking that today as I was sorting what to send out west to my mother in law. She is in her eighties and a voracious reader. When I do send her books, I know they will be read, enjoyed or not...but most especially, gratefully received. I wonder how she will get along with Des Kennedy's "The Way of a Gardener"; he lives on an island not far from her. That's the other thing, you get to talk about a book you have both shared and that is a comfortable delight akin to gossiping.
So the books piled up today..those half read, those just started, some almost finished and those ready for a new home. The thing about showing your book pile is, you sort of share your soul. Or, at least your soul right now. Mine seems to be a gardening soul, with a hint of fiction history.
There is no way to remember the name of the person who plied me with paperback books in High School, and no way to thank him these many years later. But, I distinctly remember the book that made me realize there was a whole world out there I didn't know about...and that I could so easily be taken away from the insecurities of becoming a young woman by reading.
One book...just one book can change a life. This I know.
"If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need." Cicero
ReplyDeleteBless that teacher and that one book! And I like that soul I see in that pile of books, Brenda.
"A book is like a garden carried in the pocket"
Chinese proverb
Donna
Books are great to share . . . how lovely you can enjoy them with your Mother-in-law. Great pile! I can see how our libraries are connected to our souls . . . like our gardens, though we cultivate them in different ways. ;>)
ReplyDeleteCarol and Donna, what beautiful and kind comments. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI love those words of Cicero, Donna...
Carol..."we cultivate them in different ways"..I love those words also..
How wonderful of you to package and mail books off to your MIL. I bet she just loves opening and seeing what you have sent each time!
ReplyDeleteI really like your post, so well written. I agree, books do open up a new world. And it is interesting looking at ones collection and remembering the person you were when you read a certain book. We are readers too (Andy much more than myself). Nothing like a good book, as the days become chilly and nights are longer........
~Michele
oh a fellow book lover! I see titles I own and titles I'd like to read in that pile. I too share books with my mother, mother in law and brother in law. Funny how our personalities and interests are revealed by what we chose to read but as you point out, they only reveal who we are at this point in our lives. I can't remember a time when I didn't have a book in my hand and I smile when I think how the content of those books have changed with me through the years. Lovely post.
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