Books, Books, Books

My life is like an open book...

No, actually I lied. My life is like MANY open books - hardbound, of course, with hand-stitched binding, gold leaf embossed calf leather covers, and gold edged pages.

In my life, books are everywhere. When I wake in the morning and ease myself up onto the edge of the bed, I don't reach for my robe, slippers, or eyeglasses as others may do, I reach out to the bookcase inches from my pillow and pick out one of the many books strewn across the top of it or within the shelves below. Depending on my mood, I might grab one from the stacks scattered across the floor beneath my feet instead.

As I pick it up I gently stroke its cover, fan its pages, and maybe even bring it up to my nose and take a good, long whiff... I know, it's a sickness only book lovers could understand.

This book accompanies me through my morning journey - breakfast, bath, shave, etc. Although, it's probably not the book I will stuff into my backpack with the many others already in there to accompany me on my journey through the work day.

At work, my cubicle contains a bookshelf full of books, a desktop bookshelf with its own collection of books, and yes, books lying around in various places on the desk and office table opposite it - technical books, career-oriented books, self-help books, and a couple of good novels hidden in their midst.

When I get a spare moment, I hide myself inside their world. At the end of the day, I pack up all my stuff, including any books I think I might want to read at home, and tackle the commute. If I could, I'd prop a book on the dashboard and read my way home. But I want to make it home alive.

Some people would say I should listen to books on my way home...get real! How can you FEEL an audio book? A book is something tangible, something you can hold in your hands. Its firm binding and striking cover invite you to open its doors and find out for yourself what awaits inside for you. Like life events, what you find inside a book, can be exciting, dangerous, humorous, informative, or just plain dull. It contains a wonderful world.

Authors become your best friend, as you devour every word coming out of their mind, to paper, to your mind. Reading every word of everything they publish.

When I arrive home in the evening I fit my book worshipping in between dinner hour, sports on TV, or whatever other activity we have planned.

Night time is the reverse ritual of morning. If a day goes by that I cannot get a little reading in before I close my eyes at night, I feel incomplete.

Yes, a book is within arms reach at all times. Waiting for me to open its covers and dive in. So there you have it. I have admitted my sickness. It's books, books, books...