Meanwhile, Melody Muses…

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By

melodylowes

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Bookish Beauty

I hear ya, Mr. Jefferson. I love the feel of the pages.  I love the way the covers distend to display their wares.  I love the weight of them in my hands.  I love the smell of an old, leather-bound classic – musty and wise, they smell of secret reminiscences of  readers in days of…

Exactly!

I hear ya, Mr. Jefferson.

I love the feel of the pages.  I love the way the covers distend to display their wares.  I love the weight of them in my hands.  I love the smell of an old, leather-bound classic – musty and wise, they smell of secret reminiscences of  readers in days of yore.

And I love their words.  Thousands of them, ants scurrying for the last crumb of communication on every page.  Spilling over each other in their awareness of self-importance – each one bears the weight of its own missive in silent dignity.  Together, they tell of castles and knights and goblins and princesses.  Places and spaces and ideas and plots.  Opinions and perspectives and cultures and history.  And stories – always, amazing stories…

Stories can entertain.  They can enlarge understanding.  They can inform, encourage, energize, enlighten, inspire.  They can draw out tears.  They can provide a mirror to your soul.

They can be oh, so beautiful.

And one Book surpasses them all in its life-changing power.  No other Book can create the desire to become a better me.  No other Book can impart hope and courage in the face of terrible trouble.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” II Timothy 3:16 NLT

       

What do you love about books?  How does their beauty touch you?  How have you felt and experienced the beauty of The Good Book?

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Responses to “Bookish Beauty”

  1. bornattwentyfive

    I lovveee books! I refuse to get a nook, because I love the actual feel and scent of books.

    Reply
    1. melodylowes

      ME too! I have actually gotten paper cuts from ‘hugging’ the pages as I read…although I probably shouldn’t tell strangers these things. Ha!

      Reply
      1. bornattwentyfive

        LOl I can completely relate. I’ve been caught smelling books at the library. Uber Embarrassing.

      2. melodylowes

        HA! I like you already… What are some of your favorites?

      3. bornattwentyfive

        Middlesex by Jeffrey Euphenides, Blindness by Jose Saramago, anything by John Grisham, Scar Tissue by Anthony SEikidis… these are my most recent favorites. How about yours?

      4. melodylowes

        I actually haven’t read a lot lately – too much ‘stuff’ going on. I’ve been reading books that address my particular issues instead. But I love all the classics – Austen, Dickens, Bronte, etc – and I love smelling the old copies! I have to agree on Grisham – but am unfamiliar with the others on your list. So many books, so little time…(sigh)

      5. bornattwentyfive

        That’s very true!

      6. melodylowes

        It’s good to meet you and connect over books. The universal go-between! 🙂 Have a great day.

      7. bornattwentyfive

        You too!

  2. petroneagu

    Alright, you’ve just put me in the mood for reading a book (when on earth will I find time for that?). To my deepest shame, I haven’t been able to touch a book in ages. Illiterate will be my second name soon 🙂
    But when I used to have time, I was devouring them like a wolf, spending days and nights restlessly reading and enjoying every letter. I used to love the way they were slowly absorbing me into their reality. I sometimes used to lose touch with my own reality. They were my only friends for a while. Oh, my dear friends, how I miss them…

    Reply
    1. melodylowes

      When I was teaching full-time I knew I could only read on weekends – and I would start a book, and get hooked, and read all night if I had to, in order to finish. No wonder I need glasses! I wish I had kept track – I wonder how many hundreds and hundreds I have read? I haven’t read a good book for a long time – my attention span is too short right now. I loved getting sucked into a new reality, too – that is half the fun of reading! What books are your favorites?

      Reply
      1. petroneagu

        One of the books is “Gone with the wind” (I’m a softy, I know) and the other one is a Romanian book, I don’t know how to translate it, because its title is a very old Romanian name that is not in use anymore. The name is “Morometii” if you ever decide to look it up and get lucky to find anything about it. I really love this book, it’s about an ancient family of peasants, their hard life in the countryside and their struggle to raise and give a good education to their children. I think I’ve read it for about 6 times!
        Most of the books I’ve read are Romanian so maybe that’s why they’re my favorite.

      2. melodylowes

        I like the classics too – and I can’t imagine reading a novel in my second language – I know some French, a little Spanish, but definitely not enough to read a book in those languages and enjoy the experience! I envy you your language skills!

      3. petroneagu

        Thanks Melody, that’s very important to me. I love English and I’ve been basically self teaching since I was a child. Working on the ship helped a lot with my conversation too.

      4. melodylowes

        You do so well. Good for you!

  3. Janene

    I’m a huge book lover and read constantly. Though I do like my daughter’s Kindle, there is something so wonderful about the feel of a book in your hands. I’ll miss them if they disappear.

    Reply
    1. melodylowes

      Kindles are humanity’s gift to frequent fliers. Books are the right of the masses. Or something like that. I’m such a tactile person – if books disappear, what will I manhandle (womanhandle?) when I read? 🙂

      Reply
      1. petroneagu

        I’m also worried about them to possibly disappear as more and more people stop using them in favor of the new technology or simply stop reading for various reasons. I can’t even blame them, I am on my way to become one of them if I don’t pay enough attention. Being so busy makes me focus on other things that are a priority right now and forgetting that in this world there are such beautiful things like books and they bring along so much more than just words or stories.
        Such a shame…

      2. melodylowes

        Isn’t that the truth? I am getting more and more sucked into this new world, and perhaps leaving some of the old behind. But not books! Summer reading time is just around the corner!

      3. petroneagu

        I am anxious for Ellie to grow up so I can enjoy more free time and dedicate more of it to reading BOOKS 🙂

      4. melodylowes

        You can start now – I often held my little ones for only maybe 5 minutes (or as long as their attention held) and just looked at the pictures, naming the objects in the illustrations. From an early childhood educators’ perspective, you can never start too young introducing children to the wonder of books! It just needs to be at their level.

      5. petroneagu

        I’m glad I already started to do that, when Ellie was about 5 months old. Almost every night, at bed time, I “read” to her as I have the same opinion as yours. Plus it helps her to relax and get into the sleepy mood.

      6. melodylowes

        Then you are doing your best already – and she will benefit! Children who are ‘read’ to in this way develop reading skills much faster an easier later in life according to research. And according to Kindergarten teachers! Yay for you!

  4. Forrest

    My bike friends think I’m a little nutty, but I like to carry an emergency book around with me. It doesn’t even matter all that much which one (well, it can’t be just anything, but it doesn’t have to be a particular book, just a good one). There’s just no telling when you might go by a sunny park with a bench in the grass that’s crying out for someone to sit down and read a chapter in the sunlight.

    I’ve refused to get an e-reader of any sort. We have iPods at work (or iPads? the new ones), and a few of my fellows use them to read books. Mostly, I like exposing myself to new ideas, seeing how other people approach life, and stuff like that. But I do enjoy feeling the pages bend in my hands while I hold the book open.

    Reply
    1. melodylowes

      Great thought. Now I will ned to travel with a book AND my camera in case I miss anything!

      Reply
      1. Forrest

        I wished I’d had an emergency book (well, a more novel and interesting one than I had, anyway) both days this weekend. On Saturday I drove my bicycle about 250 miles (round trip) to do a 40 mile ride, deep in a narrow canyon in the Cascade Range. And, on the long way home, I stopped for some delicious Indian food. I was by myself … and a book is good dinner company. This is why you need an emergency book; what started off as a day of exercise in the mountains ended with a missed opportunity to take in a chapter and be transported, or learn something.

      2. melodylowes

        That sounds like an absolutely heavenly way in which to spend a day! And book or not, I’m sure you learned something along the way.

What are your thoughts?