My Lifelong Friendship with Books

"So, do you like Barnes and Noble?"

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked that question. I don't know why but the answer is always "No". I think I might be some sort of a book snob.

Growing up I read a lot. My best friends were characters in books. In fact I tried listing them here and am ashamed to admit that I have forgotten some of their names. Here are a few: Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables), Laura Ingalls Wilder, Pippi Longstocking (although I wouldn't have actually been friends with her because she got into too much trouble), Beezus & Ramona, Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird), The Little Princess, the March sisters from Little Women.....see...I've forgotten so many. I'll have to look them up and do a complete list here later so that I can keep them forever. In fact, this is going to be one of my evolving posts so watch for it to expand and change as I ponder this subject and my thoughts evlove.

I think of characters in books as real people and bookshelves as the places where their homes reside. Something about large book stores feels like my books have gone "Wal Mart". They're cheap and available to the masses and while I can appreciate that, it's just not a dignified place for them to be. They shouldn't be dwelling amongst "Car & Driver " magazine or "PowerPoint for Dummies" or all the other books that are for "non-readers". They should be in houses, libraries or in the best treasure chest of all, old book stores. I just love old book stores. When I walk through the doors I can smell the dusty pages and decaying covers and my mind instantly feels "mmmm.......I'm home."

I don't read as much as I used to. That's on purpose, by the way. I decided some time during college that I should spend less time reading books and more time getting to know real people. So if books are my lifelong friends, then like most of those, I haven't visited them lately. I don't stay in touch. I think about them every now and then and we pick things up as if we've never been apart, only for me to lay them back down again promising I'll visit more often and meaning it, but more often just hasn't seemed to come around yet.