How well he's read, to reason against reading!
- Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, act1, sc.1, l.94.
Hello one and all and welcome back to The Art of Caesura!
Today we're focusing on a theme that is quite near and dear to this blog, even though it rarely reaches the limelight - instead being hidden down at the end of each blog post: reading!
My undergraduate degree was in English Literature and at that time I would read at least two books per week. Now I'm lucky to finish a book every two months. I'm still always reading something - and usually a few somethings concurrently, as I often illustrate in the "reading" section at the end of most blog posts. I do have an annual post devoted to books in the form of my Autumn Reading List, but today's post it a little different.
This week I want to focus on the classic joy of reading physical paper books and ways to pursue that joy. I will quickly add that I do not have anything against e-reading; indeed tune in next week to see that assertion confirmed...
As I write this, my wife, daughter and I are on a little staycation in a small coastal village where my wife's family have an ancestral cottage. We have just returned from a walk on the beach and while they are napping, I've been sitting outside in the uncharacteristically beautiful sunshine reading an old White Dwarf magazine.
There is something very immediate about reading a physical copy of a largely visual medium. I would count magazines and comics / graphic novels in a similar category here. In a busy life, just picking up and idly thumbing through a comic or magazine is a real joy. Everything is right in front of you and, should you choose, you can easily skip ahead or back in ways that are not quite as intuitive on digital platforms. Likewise, the experience of reading a book - the feel of the paper, the soft shuffle of the pages and the spine creaking, that new book smell - they all contribute to the experience of reading.
Whenever I travel, I love nosing around the local bookshops. Just being in a bookshop is like standing in a structural embodiment of potential energy. In bookshops I often feel inspired by the almost limitless possibilities of things to learn, adventures to go on, or thoughts and feelings to be provoked.
Growing up on Vancouver Island I was spoiled for choice for amazing bookstores in my hometown, but my favourite was Munro's. Situated in an old neoclassical building in the city centre, the tall vaulted ceilings and tapestry-lined walls really make it feel like a Mecca of independent bookstores.
My favourite bookshop local to me now is The Dingle Bookshop. What it lacks in physical magnificence, it make up for in local interest. It has a surprising variety of books on all topics (including children's books) in Irish (gaelic), including many created by local authors / illustrators. There is even an ad for a local person who runs a hand printing press and will make cards / pamphlets and the like. We even considered getting our wedding invitations made this way. Also, pinned to one of the walls, The Dingle bookshop has this little cartoon - which is great.
The reason I'm talking about bookshops, is not to say that you have to check out the ones that are special to me, but rather to embolden you to find ones that can become special to you.
From bookshops, let us now turn our attention briefly to libraries.
If you are someone who frequents libraries, then I'm preaching to the converted. But if you, like me, are an infrequent attender, I urge you to go to your local library! Pretty much every time I spend time in a library I get a similar feeling to that "world of possibilities" sensation I described about bookstores, but this time, everything's free! And it's not just books, most libraries have DVDs, CDs, and the facility to borrow "e-versions" of books / magazines / comics (more on that next week).
What's more, if you check out the bulletin board on your way in (or maybe on their website) you will be amazed to see the different events that libraries host - from author's readings to more eclectic seminars.
If you are lucky (like I am) to live near one of the world's great libraries (see the image of Dublin's Trinity College Library at the top of the page), then you are doing yourself a disservice by not checking it out - at least once - for the awe-inspiring experience that awaits!
I hope you enjoyed this little ramble through (physical) media. Tune in next week for a glance at their digital counterparts, here on The Art of Caesura!
Reading - The Rose Code - Kate Quinn
Watching - Big Little Lies - Season 1
Next Week:
Zeros and ones...
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