Judging books by their covers has been a practice of mine for at least 30 years. It is infallible. Know why? If it’s a boring book, at least it looks good on the shelf. My book shelves are a bit like a book rescue. They whisper “give me your unwanted, your cast off, your clearance rack leftovers”. I should have something to that effect embossed on the edge of the center shelf of each of my gargantuan book holders. As I glance up, I see diet books, old text books, travel books to Scotland (where I plan to go as soon as I can), craft books of all sorts and a collection of fiction so varied that I defy anyone to figure out just exactly what I like to read by merely perusing the selection. Although I suppose I have a lot of book clubby type books. Female fiction. Do you ever think they should put genetalia on books? Wouldn’t it be interesting to open a cover to ‘sex’ the book…prevent any novellas or short stories appearing unannounced on the shelves while the parent books blushed proudly. What sort of story would it be if it was the issue of Motorcycle Diaries and Pride and Prejudice? Lord of the Rings and The Devil Wears Prada? The Abs Diet and Skinny Bitch? You see…if books could procreate, we would get some really interesting reads. Probably some methodical version of this very thing is what produces a great many works of fiction. Those hermaphrodite books enjoyed by both genders. Middlesex. I’m not exactly sure that something like this doesn’t actually happen when my books are unsupervised. Indeed, there are books whose origins are quite mysterious, it is as if they just appeared one day. Hmm. That would explain such titles as Drowning Ruth and Blood Ties. Both of which I’m sure are very good…I just don’t have a clue how they came to be on my shelf.
It’s time to clean out my shelves, though. I’ve taken in too many strays. Now I must cull the herd and take the overflow to the library where they can go to [other] loving homes. Then the cycle will begin anew. I will walk into a bookstore and there will be stacks of clearance books and my fingers will reach out and graze their spines, pausing on a title of interest. I’ll look at it, read the jacket because I think I ought, then tuck it into the crook of my arm and it will come home with me. Or a friend will be ruthlessly culling their own herd and I will end up taking a few in. Most I’ll never read. That’s never been a requirement of mine when inviting a book into my home. All I really demand from a book is that they bestow a good intention of the writer. A great title, a good idea, science of any sort, cover art that makes me drool.
What is it about the written word that so captivates us? As a species, we are obsessed with writing things down and reading what others have written down. Texting has taken us by storm and I think it’s because we like to write and read much more than we like to talk and listen. There are pieces of us that gleam in the words we write, they convey who we are almost as effectively as our body language fills in what our words do not. Perhaps that’s why I prefer email to phone calls.
It’s time to clean out my shelves, though. I’ve taken in too many strays. Now I must cull the herd and take the overflow to the library where they can go to [other] loving homes. Then the cycle will begin anew. I will walk into a bookstore and there will be stacks of clearance books and my fingers will reach out and graze their spines, pausing on a title of interest. I’ll look at it, read the jacket because I think I ought, then tuck it into the crook of my arm and it will come home with me. Or a friend will be ruthlessly culling their own herd and I will end up taking a few in. Most I’ll never read. That’s never been a requirement of mine when inviting a book into my home. All I really demand from a book is that they bestow a good intention of the writer. A great title, a good idea, science of any sort, cover art that makes me drool.
What is it about the written word that so captivates us? As a species, we are obsessed with writing things down and reading what others have written down. Texting has taken us by storm and I think it’s because we like to write and read much more than we like to talk and listen. There are pieces of us that gleam in the words we write, they convey who we are almost as effectively as our body language fills in what our words do not. Perhaps that’s why I prefer email to phone calls.
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