Saturday 30 January 2010

an open book

It was rough weather for part of last night, in fact quite wild. I lay awake for a while listening to hear if the pot plants were blowing over in the garden. Eventually, I got up and reached for my books. I operate a kind of rota approach to my reading. I have a pile, admittedly selected with care, made up of a novel, some poetry, a self -help book, a gardening book and usually a biography. I read on the whole from the top book before replacing it at the bottom. I am transported by the power of books. I am willingly kidnapped, bundled up and taken to distant lands through them. They are a technique for time travel. More recently, as I have blogged more and more, I see the similar way that blogs grow a shared experience, opening my mind to the thoughts of others. Building a shared culture. I love the way that some times when I read, something present in them forces me to suspend breath. I meet words with surprise and often acknowledgement. I read until the darkness was replaced with morning light.

4 comments:

  1. Aah, I am very much liking your book pile! What a good idea to have several on the go at once... maybe I should do that as it would keep me ticking over. I still think fondly of the Guernsey Literary Society.... :-)
    Today in a charity shop I got Julie Walter's Autobiography which I'm looking forward to - my favourite funny lady! And a Rupert Bear annual... for bedtime reading! Ben added another to his James Herbert collection...
    We loved seeing D and B in their distraction disguises over on PH Blog!
    Happy days,
    D x

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  2. Hello Helen (and D and B!), I didn't know you had a new space of your very own....I can't imagine it will stay totally feline free! I always have a pile of books by my bed.....current read 'Of Bees and Mist" - rather fun, and quite bewitching. Not my usual sort of read but am engrossed.

    I have terrible trouble with this sort of comment box....my browser usually doesn't work with the embedded type at all, though the pop up one and the separate page are fine!

    Hope you've had a lovely weekend.
    D and W xx

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  3. I like your book choices. I have read many Vita Sackville-West books ~ but not that one. And I am a great fan of Ted Hughes ~ so the birthday letters intrigue (I love reading the letters of writers and poets because they reveal so much)~ and Trollope is excellent!

    I always have a book pile myself too. Currently Alan Bennett's "Untold Stories" (biographical) and a Jodi Piccoult novel, and always some poetry to dip in and out of.

    Jan
    (Milo and Alfie's mom)

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  4. Ah - I'm reading the bottom one (same edition - Denise's influence too), recently enjoyed the second one up and am interested in the top one! My current pile also includes The Name of the Rose - I love Umberto Eco's 'it could all be true...' style.

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