Bookish thoughts

[selenay]

Today I am mostly feeling icky and ill. Girls, you'll know why :-(( Worse than normal, a day early and I'm already wondering how long I'll last at work. Grrr.

But I have Things that must be done today.

I was discussing shopping with colleagues (bear with me here). New Girl loves shopping and regards Oxford Circus shopping district as shopping heaven. The entire department thinks me weird for viewing Foyles in London or Picadilly Waterstones as heaven. Seven floors of books somehow doesn't cut it with them. It's just that there's something amazing about being surrounded by books. They smell bookish and they sort of whisper to you, tempting you with promises of adventure, romance and excitement or new things to know. You know that if you take a couple home with you, they're going to provide you with an amazing afternoon where you get to be somewhere else, absorbed by someone else's life and forgetting everything around you. If it's a proper reading session, you'll see and feel everything you're reading and stop noticing that it's words on the page: the book becomes real around you.

It's something that a lot of people don't really get and I sometimes wonder why. Are they unwilling to let go enough to allow that to happen? Have they just never read the right book for them? Are they afraid to escape that far into a book so they keep something back from the experience?

I suppose it's as hard for some people to understand why I love books so much as it is for me to understand how people don't love reading.

Comments

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

I'm with you about the books and reading. I love to bury myself in one and not come out "into the world of now" until I'm done. *gg* One of my greatest heartaches is that because of my neck problem, I can't go to the library anymore. :( The looking side-to-side and up and down and craning my neck to here and there forces the damn bone spurs on my cervical spine to press into the muscles and bam! Instant spasms that have unbelievable pain, and so goes any thought about looking at books. Bookstores are a little better, but not by much. So, I'm left with online browsing which is *so* not the same thing. ::sighs::

Seven floors of books somehow doesn't cut it with them. It's just that there's something amazing about being surrounded by books.

Seven floors... ::fantasizes:: Yeah, that'd be heaven all right. :)

[selenay]

I love to bury myself in one and not come out "into the world of now" until I'm done. *gg*

I think it's what I love best about a good book - it pulls you in a doesn't let you go until its done. I tend to wander around like a zombie if a good book has me because even when I'm toddling around to get cups of tea, mentally I'm still in the book.

One of my greatest heartaches is that because of my neck problem, I can't go to the library anymore

{{{hugs}}}

I know what you mean about missing the browsing. The advantage of shopping online is that you can always find the book you've aimed for or get some interesting suggestions for books, but it's not quite the same as being in a room full of them. Picking up a book, reading the jacket and getting a feel for the book in your hand is important if you're a real book fiend.

Yeah, that'd be heaven all right. :)

You're a woman after my own tastes :-)

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

I'm glad one of us can enjoy books the way we want. :)

[selenay]

*g* I only get to do it if someone reminds me to take regular sitting down breaks! Too much time on my feet usually ends up with lots of pain afterwards :-( So bookshops need to have a good coffee shop to keep me feeling OK.

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

Damn. I'd forgotten about being able to sit down. Except for Barnes & Noble, that doesn't happen around here. :(

[wadjet-theperv.livejournal.com]

I understand completely. One of my favourite places (well, there are two actually) is Borders, which I keep insisting on calling Chapters! Books and a Starbucks. *sigh* The only way it could be better would be if it was Tim Horton's rather than Starbucks - or if it really was Chapters, which would mean I was *there* rather than *here* ;o)

[selenay]

Borders, which I keep insisting on calling Chapters

I've never been a massive fan of Borders, although the big one in London is mighty fine :-) There's a Chapters out by the mall in Halifax that I've been known to lose myself in for hours, even though it's not that big. I'm told there are much larger ones if I wanted to drive across the city - I may be learning all their locations when I move :-)

Tim Horton's in Chapters does sound like a wonderful idea. Starbucks is OK, but TH...

I think it's going to be the bookshops in London that I'll miss when I leave here. Bookshops in Canada have a different selection, meaning there's lots of new things that I haven't read before, but the bookshops in London are also fab. I'll probably be making a point of popping into London whenever I'm visiting here just for that!

[wadjet-theperv.livejournal.com]

Oh and I wish you better with the Curse :(

[selenay]

*sigh* Thanks. Just seemed worse this time and my back was also kicking up worse than normal, making for a miserable, grumpy Sel. Very unfortunate. Survived the day and spent the evening watching TV and drinking red wine - it's one way to recover from it all :-)

[sazandra.livejournal.com]

It's just that there's something amazing about being surrounded by books. They smell bookish and they sort of whisper to you, tempting you with promises of adventure, romance and excitement or new things to know.

I have a colleague that is so totally into books, she regularly checks out the secondhand bookshop in Oxford etc. At Gatecon UK she missed part of one afternoon, turned out that she'd found an interesting secondhand bookshop in Cheltenham and lost track of time.

[selenay]

I have a secondhand bookshop just down the road from me that's wonderful. The best secondhand bookshop I've ever been to (although I'm prepared for Hay on Wye to come close when I eventually go). I can lose myself in there for hours because there's always so much to look through. It's an old, rambling cottage that was converted so it's got lots of rooms and nooks and crannies, books kind of teetering in places where there are too many for the bookshelves. It's amazing the treasures you can find in it.

I sympathise with your friend :-)