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Sunday, January 13, 2013

A Moment

What is a book? When someone says the word "book" to me, an image of a leather cover bound by a leather spine filled with white paper pages pops into my head.  As I continue to think about books, I realize that it is a physical object that I naturally think of, but there is so much more to a book then the cover.  After all, they say to never judge a book by the cover!....Who is "they" anyways?.....Anyways, I agree with that saying and I even remember going to the library as a little girl and intentionally looking for books that had ugly or plain covers.  It was an almost superstition for me that a good looking book would actually be a terrible book. There is so much more to a book then what it looks like and how it presents itself.

A book is a power source. A book is a time machine. A book has a life of its own.

Now that I am thinking about books, my mind takes off with all the potential definitions of what books are and I wonder why my original definition is so bland? Of course the majority of books that people hold in their hands and view with their eyes has a similar format.  They have a cover and a back and a spine and many many pages.  But just because the majority of "book" that people come into contact with look like that, there is no reason why a book should be limited to that definition.

A book is a power source. A book is a time machine. A book has a life of its own.

Ever since I was a little girl books were a huge part of my life.  One of my favorite memories as a child was when I learned how to "read in my head." I was laying belly down on my parent's white leather couch reading the Disney Cinderella.  I was reading out loud and using my finer to follow along, when all of a sudden I was able to read in my head and still comprehend the story! I was thrilled! I was amazed! I was a big girl!  And after that day I took that book with me everywhere for days.  I was so proud of myself and rightly so....I know could read books and comprehend the amazing places and people and story lines of all kinds of books!  Books are a special moment. Thats what they are, a moment. A moment where the world around you blurs and you travel to a new world with different feelings and emotions and people and places.  It is a moment to feel and be anyone or anything you want to be.

A book is a power source. A book is a time machine. A book has a life of its own.

2 comments:

  1. "A book is a power source"-- that is SO awesome. Also, saying books have a life of their own, that they have a cover, a back, and a spine- all this really makes me think about a human being also having a cover, a back and a spine, also having personal power and also having so much life contained. This is super inspiring to me for my project.
    To say books are a moment- I think this moment has as much to do with the writer as it does with the reader. It's like if you read a book when you're 15 versus when you're 21- totally different! And so on, throughout life. I'm really excited about these ideas I'm reading in your blog. For me, who has been thinking that we ourselves are our own books to create throughout our lives, to say that books allow us to be whoever we want to be really resonates.
    Thank you so much! Keep that power source, its super sweet.

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  2. --I'm really interested in that "time" machine! --each page is a form of "portal" to another dimension, another universe, another reality system --and each word, each character may be something similar --will work further on these thoughts, "books" in and on --under, over, through, etcetera, my "mind" of "minds" --on various scales, etcetera...

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