Episode 358 : For the joy of reading

There is a joy in reading.

As you read each word, each sentence and each paragraph, you see what the author intended for you to see. Every page you turn, makes you pause at the beginning of it, just to delay the excitement that is building inside of you. Almost orgasmic- there, but not quite there.

And the end of every chapter leaves you in a limbo, a heightened state of excitement that makes you plead with the author to not end it like that. But the author does not listen. It goes on, chapter after chapter, till you reach the final pages when the whole plot falls into place.

Suddenly, just like that, it is over.

You turn the book around, look at the cover, take it the artwork and the author's name, turn it around and read the blurb. Then you smile at it, or yourself- you really don't know, and put the book back in its place in the shelf.

Then you start looking for the next book. You do not find it actually. The book finds you.

* * * * *
There is a joy in searching.

You look up row after row of books on shelves after shelves. Sometimes you have an author in mind. Sometimes you do not. Sometimes you just wander into a bookshop because it feels nice to be surrounded by books. And sometimes to overhear what others are saying about books, while stealthily looking at looking at their choices, pretending to be looking somewhere else.

You pull out a book whose title catches your eye, and you look at the blurb to see if the story will interest you. You put it back because you are unsure you will like it, and continue looking. Before you realise it, the name of an author or of a book, that you wanted to read a long time before, pops into your head, and you turn to look for it.

You run your fingers along the top of the books till you locate it, and smile when you do. Or grimace when you do not. You ask the staff if they have it. They nod, come to you and pull out a book from right under your nose. You feel silly, but only for a moment. All that you want to do now is to read the blurb and decide if you want to buy it or not.

You read the blurb, take in the artwork at the back and turn the book over to look at the cover. You look at the artwork, and then at the binding to see if it is damaged. You bring the book close to your nose, flip through the pages rapidly from start to finish, and lightly inhale the smell of the printed pages. Because if you it makes you sneeze, then there is no point in buying it!

When asked what you selected, you point at the book. But it was the book that selected you.

* * * * *
'So what have you decided? Are you buying the Kindle?' Anna asked me.

'No', I shook my head.

A Kindle would be useful to carry around; I can store a lot more books than my bookshelf at home could hold, and have a much larger count of unread books. It would let me continue to experience the sheer joy of reading.

But it would not be able to give me the joy of searching for a book in a store, let me feel its spine as I pull it out of the shelf, or give me the smell of the printed page.

Because choosing a book is as important as reading it.