Weekly Photo Challenge: Thankful
Yes! I am thankful for having books around me! They are in every room of our home. Their presence, their variety of shapes, sizes and colors, is of great comfort to me. I enjoy seeing them on the bookshelves and on the tables. They are like friends.
I love holding in my hands a traditionally published book, enjoying the texture of its pages and even its subtle smell. There is some intimacy, both sensual and intellectual, in reading such a book.
I simply love the companionship of books and can hardly imagine life without them. Linda Pastan expressed that feeling perfectly in her poem The Bookstall, which ends with the lines:
And I hold them, one in each hand,
a curious ballast weighting me
here to the earth.
So I am thankful for the writers who write books, the publishers who bring them to life, and the libraries and bookstores that make them visible and available.
When I deal with a difficult personal issue and need some help, I often end up in a bookstore and wander a bit aimlessly among the bookshelves. Soon enough, somehow I end up with a book that becomes another helpful friend – a new addition to my book collection.
Thanks to books I was able to travel through difficult times in my life with their guidance, information, and inspiration. In fact, I was so inspired by them that I became a writer myself.
Alicja
P.S. Last December I wrote a post to this blog titled The Power of Books. I hope you will enjoy reading (or rereading) it.
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Text and photos copyright © 2012 by Alicja Mann.
Explore posts in the same categories: Feelings, Opinions, Photo essays, Photography, ThoughtsTags: Books, bookshelves, bookstores, Linda Paston, poetry, postaday, sensuality, thankfulness, traditional publishing, writers
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Alicja Mann Waves 
November 28, 2012 at 6:00 PM
Your love of books is inspiring. I Feel the same way about creating art. It is a must. I will follow your blog.
Walter.
December 3, 2012 at 7:59 PM
Hello Walter,
I like your digital art a lot! Congratulations on your new book. The book looks great and I probably will buy it soon, especially that I am very curious about your written words as well.
Many thanks for your “likes” of my latest posts, for the comment, and for following my blog – I am honored.
Alicja
November 29, 2012 at 5:50 AM
In today’s hurry-up, throw-away digital world may the sight, touch and aroma of books never go away.
December 3, 2012 at 8:00 PM
I truly hope, Vince, that the “real” books will live forever – Alicja
November 29, 2012 at 6:54 AM
I too just love books, both the reading of them and the having them around me, and the remembering–they all add so much to my own personal experience–become a part of it. Thank you for sharing that wonderful poem, which I will now look up and read the rest of.
I am subscribed again!
-Lesley
December 3, 2012 at 8:04 PM
Dear Lesley,
Many thanks for your comment and for re-subscribing to my blog.
Linda Pastan is one of my favorite poets and I will show you her “Heroes in Disguise” next time we have a chance to visit.
Alicja
November 29, 2012 at 7:12 AM
I think you have planted a germ in Jan that will make him a writer. Don Richardson gaia@comporium.net The CIA makes the Mafia look like Boy Scouts.
December 3, 2012 at 8:07 PM
Don,
I am pretty sure that Jan has a great chance to be a creative writer – thanks for your comment!
I wonder if you on The Nation cruise this year again….
Alicja
November 29, 2012 at 9:44 AM
Great blog, as usual. I sent you a book yesterday……a copy of the program from the ASEEES conference per your request. You should have it within a week
.
December 3, 2012 at 8:11 PM
Hello Mark,
I just received that copy of the ASEEES convention. Many, many thanks! What a huge program it was! It will take me a while to “navigate” that book!
I will be in touch with your group as always. Thanks again – Alicja
December 6, 2012 at 11:42 AM
Am up in Clearlake, Calif., visiting my daughter but am staying at a resort along Clearlake in the town of Nice. Can see the foggy lake as I write this. Today am listening to Pandora ambient music channel and catching up with electronic reading and email. It’s relaxing — but not a book. You are so right. I gave part of my book collection — art and gardening — to Alicia after I moved from my Edison Street House in Tucson. She won’t let me take pictures, but she and her companion Karl so love books that their bookshelves are perpendicular to the walls like the stacks in libraries. They have books on either side of each shelf. It’s non traditional but looks surprisingly good in the living room. My daughter Alicia stayed overnight here with me and is luxuriating in the bath tub right now. We really are having a vacation day.
December 16, 2012 at 5:43 PM
Sorry Christina for my delay in responding to you. What can I say – except that I am very happy for you and Alicia?!
Your visit in California sounds and feels like a dream – especially for a mother! Many thanks for sharing your reflections with me.
Knowing you a bit Christina, I am not surprised at all that your daughter loves books. Congratulations! Perhaps because of her and others of that generation, beautiful books will survive for a long, long time. I truly hope so!
Thanks again, and see you soon.
Alicja