10.23.2013

Something I Will Never Do


There is little in this life that I won't try at least once. 

Bungee jumping? Check.

Eating squid? Check.

Skinny dipping? Check.

But there is one thing I have sworn to myself that I will never do.

Let it be known that I will never buy a Nook. Or a Kindle. Or whatever other traitor to books Apple inevitably develops (they probably already have, I am so not tech-savvy).

Some of my fondest childhood memories are the hot, sticky summer days when my Grandma would drop my sister and I off at the gloriously air-conditioned local library where we would spend hours on end poring over all the selections in the beautiful Children's Room. Just happening upon the literary murals adorning the walls stirred up my imagination and pleaded my entrance into a world of adventure and wonder.


In fact just last night, my sister-in-law (a librarian) and I talked about the beautifully poetic line from Roald Dahl's Matilda, "So Matilda's strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: you are not alone."

There is something so romantic and heartwarming about stumbling into a little hole-in-the-wall book store. Fingertips grazing the spines of those stories loved and lost by their audiences. Offering up their words to each passerby. Begging to be heard and hoping to change each reader forever. 

I have had many a friend or acquaintance tell me, "I always thought I was a book-lover, too, but it'll grow on you." But the truth is, I never want it to. I want a bookshelf with warped-paged novels, doggy-eared cookbooks and stories waiting to be shared with a friend or neighbor.

Kindles can suck it. I am a bookworm through and through.

7 comments:

  1. Real books are ever so much better. Sure, you can have 100 books on your kindle, but it will never been the romance of 100 books on a shelf.

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  2. could not agree more. I love the feel of the pages of a book and holding it all in my hand. I love the smell and I even like that it takes up some space in my cupboard.

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  3. Oh, I love this!! I am the same way! My dear husband bought me a Kindle soon after we got married because he knew of my love for books. We ended up selling it on Amazon because I just couldn't get past the fact of not having a hard copy book in my hands! I missed taking in the smell of a new (or old) book and having something physically in my hands to read!

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  4. I have a nook, and I like it for the magazines, and some trashier reads, but I love real books too.

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  5. I felt the same way until I got a tablet as a gift, and it had a Kindle app on it....I'm so over books not it's not even funny. When we moved earlier this year, I took all my books to Goodwill and I feel so much lighter. I had a Goodreads goal of 30 books this year and I've already read 85; I don't think I would have read that much had it not been for the Kindle.

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  6. I used to feel this way too, but the convenience of the Kindle won me over. I can have a new book INSTANTLY when I want it. Don't have to order and wait, or go to a store, INSTANT access to so many books is just amazing.

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