A Lovingly Bookish Rapport

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Books are a long time lover of mine.

As a little girl I adored trips to our local library with my mom and sisters. I would ask a number of times to call the library story line and listen to the soft voice of the sweet librarian who would read a story to my sister and I as we sat on our mom's bed mesmerized with the the words that came pouring from our white cordless telephone. (There was a time, my younger readers, where house phones were a thing.)

I would dream about going to the library and letting the tips of my fingers rove over the spines of books, adding the ones that looked interesting to a mental list I'd keep for other sacred trips to my favorite place.

My local library became a reprieve to life, a salve and a gift I consider to be from God. When I went to college I fell in love with the libraries on my campus and the libraries of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. There were days my friends and I would plan to go these lovely havens after class simply because we could. We were giddy with excitement as we rediscovered the whimsy of rooms filled with books and those will forever be days I cherish.

Even as a 23 year-old woman I never want to lose the wonder and imaginative feeling I have when I walk into a library, the feeling of being surrounded by possibilities, love, loss, and the lessons to be learned between the spaces of words and letters. There is a simple pleasure to be found in the midst of books, spines and pages waiting to be held and gleaned from.

If you, dear reader, cannot tell by now, I have a healthy adoration for books. This leads to the reason as why this post exists. One of my goals this year is to read more. I say this not as the classic, "oh, I should read more," but more so in the sense of I'm desiring to discover what I held to be so dear to me as a child. Books, besides obvious life moments, are where I learned from people who were different than myself, it is where I shed tears for loss loved ones before I'd ever experienced it myself, and books are where I first learned of falling in love and the beauty and risk that takes.

So, this year I want to fall in love with books all over again. I want to read the kind of books that fill me with joy and remind me of purpose and life. There are books I want to read that will broaden my horizon and extend past the taste of books I had grown so accustomed to consuming.

I want to experiment with words and find new writers and authors and join in on how they choose to see life.

Sooo, if you, reader have any book suggestions feel free to comment below. Follow me on Goodreads and let's fall in love with books again.

I will post a list soon of some of the books I plan to read this year soon.

Sincerely,

~ A