I said in my 12/23/09 entry that I had a topic for another day and today is that day. My comment about being big on spoken story sharing should in no way be interpreted as me not having a penchant for written stories in book form. Certainly there has never been a shortage of these treasures with a vast variety of subjects in the homes of me or members of my family where shelves are heavily laden. My grandmother was a voracious reader who would not throw a book away. Though she tossed paperbacks into enormous plastic wastebaskets after she devoured them, she di
d not think of them as trash. These receptacles were chosen simply because they were large enough to contain over 300 manuscripts. When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to scan the Scholastic Book Club catalogue when it came to my class making notes about what I would buy the next time (my order was always over what my allowance could afford). As a teen, my Dad grounded me. No biggie. I headed for the bookstore in Martha’s Vineyard and stocked up on reading materials that kept my nose buried in page after page from September to November. I relished receiving via snail mail the newspaper from Hamilton Books that included listings for coffee table art books at reasonable prices when I became an adult. They still send them, though not as frequently since their web site hamiltonbook.com went up.
A student at Howard University, the library was a place to meet not only to study
but to socialize and for some of us, dream. I spent many hours getting lost in the “stacks.” To this day I’m not sure whether it was whatever story I was traveling through or the smell of an old volume in my hands that transported me from the present moment to some other place. Thinking back, spirits seemed to be floating about maybe like the ones in City of Angels -- the angels in that motion picture lovingly moved around in a bibliothèque. Much like Carrie in Sex and the City the movie, two of my good friends, one who I have known since she was born, still prefer to visit their local library to peruse the shelves when they want to read a book instead of going online to find and buy it. Though the book Love Letters of Great Men was something fabricated for the film, that title actually does exist one created because of the movie…wonder if it’s in the library?
I miss the small cozy bookstores that closed down when the big chains came to town. One could not grab coffee and settle do
wn to possibly stain, ruin then leave behind a book in these nooks where books were valued, treated with respect. Like the library, also performing disappearing acts in a city near you, these intimate shops sometimes had a section that housed used books with worn covers and dog-eared corners much like my copy of Winnie the Pooh that I received when I was around three and have treasured ever since. It rests on my nightstand along with contemporary jewels that light my life. I love books, witness the pile next to my bed waiting for my eyes and ears. With each page, a story of some sort tells itself and the older they are, the more stories they have to share if you…
keep your peepers open! ®
PS – If you’ve been following The Eclectic Eye you know how I feel about movie remakes. When I checked to make sure I had the correct title when referencing City of Angels, I was surprised to find that it is a remake of a classic I have never seen…maybe I’ll go to the library and sign out Wings of Desire.
d not think of them as trash. These receptacles were chosen simply because they were large enough to contain over 300 manuscripts. When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to scan the Scholastic Book Club catalogue when it came to my class making notes about what I would buy the next time (my order was always over what my allowance could afford). As a teen, my Dad grounded me. No biggie. I headed for the bookstore in Martha’s Vineyard and stocked up on reading materials that kept my nose buried in page after page from September to November. I relished receiving via snail mail the newspaper from Hamilton Books that included listings for coffee table art books at reasonable prices when I became an adult. They still send them, though not as frequently since their web site hamiltonbook.com went up.A student at Howard University, the library was a place to meet not only to study
but to socialize and for some of us, dream. I spent many hours getting lost in the “stacks.” To this day I’m not sure whether it was whatever story I was traveling through or the smell of an old volume in my hands that transported me from the present moment to some other place. Thinking back, spirits seemed to be floating about maybe like the ones in City of Angels -- the angels in that motion picture lovingly moved around in a bibliothèque. Much like Carrie in Sex and the City the movie, two of my good friends, one who I have known since she was born, still prefer to visit their local library to peruse the shelves when they want to read a book instead of going online to find and buy it. Though the book Love Letters of Great Men was something fabricated for the film, that title actually does exist one created because of the movie…wonder if it’s in the library?I miss the small cozy bookstores that closed down when the big chains came to town. One could not grab coffee and settle do
wn to possibly stain, ruin then leave behind a book in these nooks where books were valued, treated with respect. Like the library, also performing disappearing acts in a city near you, these intimate shops sometimes had a section that housed used books with worn covers and dog-eared corners much like my copy of Winnie the Pooh that I received when I was around three and have treasured ever since. It rests on my nightstand along with contemporary jewels that light my life. I love books, witness the pile next to my bed waiting for my eyes and ears. With each page, a story of some sort tells itself and the older they are, the more stories they have to share if you…keep your peepers open! ®
PS – If you’ve been following The Eclectic Eye you know how I feel about movie remakes. When I checked to make sure I had the correct title when referencing City of Angels, I was surprised to find that it is a remake of a classic I have never seen…maybe I’ll go to the library and sign out Wings of Desire.
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