I’m old-fashioned and think that reading books is the
most glorious pastime that humankind has yet devised.
Wisława Szymborska 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature
Call me old-fashioned but I would have to agree that reading books is really right up there with the best things we have ever devised.
Reading a book is such a companionable thing, with a sense of ritual. Depending on the time of day and location, it is sometimes about gathering up the right materials to accompany one on the reading journey - a cuppa, a bite to eat...
Maybe it's about settling down into the right chair - curling legs up, stretching them out, getting comfy. Or clambering into bed, and rigging up in winter, covers pulled and reading mittens on!
Grabbing your glasses if you need them, especially if you're tired, the light is poor or the text very small.
And then the world around you dissolves. There is a transition period where distractions in the exterior world can interrupt or interfere; but then the time arrives when you are submerged in reading and nothing outside of you and the book impacts at all.
It sometimes takes me a while to cross that bridge into the dissolved world, but once I have I'm gone.
I've done a lot of reading on planes these past few weeks - finished some good books whilst I was cocooned in my own little world in the sky.
All of that travel led me to here...sunset at Uluru in central Australia. A magical place and a special place to spend time.
Wisława Szymborska 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature
Call me old-fashioned but I would have to agree that reading books is really right up there with the best things we have ever devised.
Reading a book is such a companionable thing, with a sense of ritual. Depending on the time of day and location, it is sometimes about gathering up the right materials to accompany one on the reading journey - a cuppa, a bite to eat...
Maybe it's about settling down into the right chair - curling legs up, stretching them out, getting comfy. Or clambering into bed, and rigging up in winter, covers pulled and reading mittens on!
Grabbing your glasses if you need them, especially if you're tired, the light is poor or the text very small.
And then the world around you dissolves. There is a transition period where distractions in the exterior world can interrupt or interfere; but then the time arrives when you are submerged in reading and nothing outside of you and the book impacts at all.
It sometimes takes me a while to cross that bridge into the dissolved world, but once I have I'm gone.
I've done a lot of reading on planes these past few weeks - finished some good books whilst I was cocooned in my own little world in the sky.
All of that travel led me to here...sunset at Uluru in central Australia. A magical place and a special place to spend time.
reading. and a huge red rocky place. very good.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was V.
Delete"I don't remember much of what I've read. My lifelong capacity for forgetting distresses me. I glance at a book on the shelf that I once read with avid interest ... and while I struggle for details, all I recall is the excitement of the reading."
ReplyDeleteLynn Sharon Schwartz, Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books
Boy did I recognize myself in that quote (which is quite ironic for a librarian).
Oh yes, - sometimes I think books remain on my shelf more for the emotions they trigger with remembering; rather than the content and the details held within! Books are wonderful life companions nonetheless, and I always have one close by me...
DeleteThen call me old-fashioned too as I couldn't agree more Fiona. Any reading recommendations from those sky high books you've enjoyed?
ReplyDeleteHi Lesley - I'm proud to be old-fashioned here I must say! Ben Elton's Time and Time again was probably the most interesting in that it kept Barry and I talking about the themes for quite a few days...any suggestions from over your way??? Go well.
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