Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Sunday Creative--Illuminate

This week's theme for The Sunday Creative is "illuminate" and my thoughts immediately went to the shelves of books that live on one wall of our living room. I've been an avid reader my whole life, opting to skip naptime in kindergarten so I could have the shelves of Little Golden Books all to myself. The books lining the shelves in my home represent some of my most amazing journey.
I have vowed to never own a Kindle or a Nook; I'm one of those people who can't imagine a world without paper and ink books--I fully expect to be an ornery, curmudgeon-y old woman p'shaw'ing at my children and grandchildren as they download text books and carry their semester's worth of literature in the cold, impersonal featherweight heft of their laptops. I will be pulling real books down off of shelves to show them, letting them hear the soft rustle of the soft-with-wear pages fluttering through their fingers and smelling the faint yellowed & musty scent of a book long neglected. I will show them the places where I took notes in columns or underlined phrases or words that touched me, or changed the way I looked at the world around me.

Books will be illuminating to them, too, I am sure, even as they read them on a screen--an illuminated screen, no less--but I will feel badly for them that they missed the age of the real, paper book, the ones that stack or lean against each other on the shelf, decorating the walls of your home like pictures of old friends and far away places.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice take on the challenge!

cicadalady said...

i like it. and i love the photo at the header. beautiful.

Corinne Cunningham said...

Love it :)
(I've been meaning to read Atonement... thanks for the reminder!!)

Katy Noelle said...

Absolutely! This reminds of a wonderful children's book called "The Library". It's about a little girl who LOVES books. Then she BUYS books. She lives in a big, old rickety house and is surrounded by books - more and more books - piles and piles of books. Then, one day, she realizes, she doesn't have any space left. She can't fit one more book into her home. That's when she gets the idea to start a library.

Ahh, I love homes with bookcases crammed so full that piles have started on the side.

Cheers!

Katy Noelle

janjan0000 said...

I'm not sure which I love more, your shot or your post!
In total agreement. I don't think I could ever sit and read on a kindle or whatnot. I need the book in my hands.

Justine said...

I totally agree, kindles seem such an alien concept. Love your take on the prompt and great words

Sarah said...

Sarah! I love this site!!

I love books a lot (my house and my office is full to overflowing). BUT, I also really love reading on my iPad.

Marji said...

Great! Love your take on the challenge

lonek8 said...

love the photos- both the entry and the header. And I was trying not to be a copycat, but I think I'm going to have to start one of these separate 365 blogs to get my daily photos off my main blog. Imitation is still flattery, right?

colorchic said...

Continue to love books I too love paper & ink!

Judy said...

As you know, I'm right with you. But -- alas, in our new, green, technology filled world, I'm afraid that books will become a luxury we cannot afford.

Caryn said...

Love the photo! What a great take on the challenge. I, too, will not own an eReader, I just love the paper too much!

Clare B said...

I love, love, love to be surrounded by books. I'm constantly collecting them knowing that I don't have enough time to read them all, but oh so pretty - and you never know when you might "need" them. And there's nothing like the smell of an old book when you open the covers.

Jamie said...

I love books too and haven't been convinced to give them up for a kindle - even if it means lighter suitcases when i travel for work,

Beautiful photo!