In honor of books...

 I saw a meme the other day that questioned why we don't have awards for books the same way we do for movies or T.V.  Sure, we have lists, like the New York Best sellers or awards like the National Book awards, and of course getting on Oprah's Book Club is a huge thing.  But wouldn't it be fantastic to have awards like, "Most exciting plot twist," or "Best supporting character"?  

I've ranted before that the written word isn't given the same attention and hype that other forms of artistic expression are afforded.  Actually sitting down to read is often seen as tedious or something that people can't afford to take time to do.  Audio books are huge, promoting the ability to consume a book while you drive or run or do chores or whatever else you want to do while listening to the book.  

People will drop five bucks on a coffee (ugh I really hate that comparison, as I almost never pay that much for coffee..but yeah), some music, a picture...but not a book.  People will flip through magazines and look at the pictures, but books filled with nothing but words turn them away.  They will stop scrolling to read a dozen memes, but not bother to read a post that is more than a sentence long.

As an avid reader, I often feel sorry for people who don't read.  Books engage you in a way that many other forms of education or entertainment just don't.  Reading a book is a physical thing, and it is very different from reading on a device/computer (as much as that is a convenient way to read, it is missing part of the experience).

I've been a reader since....well since I could read.  My bedroom has always featured book shelves, and getting new books is a pleasure that is like nothing else for me.  I am also a rereader.  Sure, there are some books that are a one and done for me, but most of the time books are read with the intent of reading them again in the future.

There is something rare that happens when you reread a book.  You are experiencing the same information, the same story, and yet it is different.  Even if you read the book and then immediately read it again, the act of reading the book changed you.  You will find that parts of the book will read differently now.  It may be because you know what is coming, and so you can see hints of foreshadowing.  Or perhaps the end of the book made you change how you think and now you read the beginning with that altered perspective, leading you to even more insights.  Or maybe, you just find comfort in knowing where the tale will go, in experiencing your favorite scenes and characters again.

I love books in both their pristine and brand new form and also when they are well used and worn.  There is something very alive about an old book, about the way the pages have weathered, about how the spine is broken and the marks that have found their way to the cover, and the pages within.

I'm one of those horrible people who bends page corners and writes in their books.  And while I love me a highlighter, I've come to prefer underlining with colored pencil (less bleed...but it still catches your eye).  I am absolutely fascinated when I find books that other people have written in, I love peeking into other people's heads, especially when it's a book I am interested in.

And while I have a thing for beautiful old books (I mean who doesn't love a leather bound volume with ribbon bookmarks, gilded pages and that wonderful ripped edging!), I also appreciate modern mass-market books.  There is just something absolutely lovely about a clean white page with crisp black letters printed on it.

As a Pagan, I find books particularly magical.  They are a way to transmit a message, not only across space, but across time.  I can pick up a book written by someone hundreds of years ago, that has been translated into a language I can read.  I can write out my words and know they will live beyond me.

Not only that, but I can create something in my mind, describe it and share it with other people.  I can make a world come to life and someone else can find refuge in the place I have created, interact with the people I dreamed up and feel emotions I imbued into my writing.  If that's not magic, I don't know what is.

My love of books also translates to a love of journals.  There is really nothing quite like a brand new journal, a blank book full of potential and waiting to be filled with whatever I want (or need) to put in it.  Just like printed books, there are absolutely wonderful, hand-crafted journals, but simple composition books or spiral notebooks make great journals as well.  The power is in what you do with it, not it's physical form.

I think we use books as tools so often, but we rarely stop to acknowledge them as such.  In the list of tools, we often have the blade, the cup, the wand, the broom, and the list goes on, but often books are left off.  Or if they are mentioned, it is in a very limited capacity:  the Book of Shadows.  But I know that I use a ton of books in my practice!  Especially as a solitary practitioner, books are my teachers, my companions and my students (journals!).

So, I just thought I'd write a little piece, in honor of books.  A listing of the many reasons why books are amazing and why I feel they are undervalued.  And a small reminder that if you work with books, in any form, to remember their impact in your life.