My Love for Books

My Mom taught me to love books and as a child, I was spoiled with books, books and more books (I have childhood photos to prove! lol).. Mom and I frequent bookstores for a good browse. She'll say to me "Go, pick three books and I'll buy them for you." Ah, sweet music to my ears! I'll then hop along happy as a big sunflower!

My Dad encouraged it as well. Before he leaves for a business trip he'll ask me what I want when he gets back, I always said "books" and he always came home with so many of them and some American comics too (remember Archie's and Richie Rich? I was a huge fan!). Sometimes I gave him a list of what books to get, sometimes he won't ask at all. Going to bookstores to buy me books is not something my Dad would do now, but when I think back to those days when he actually DID, it brings me such joy. 

Oh how I miss those days, the childish curiousities and the thrill when receiving a new book... 

Now 32, I still intensely love books, the old-fashioned paper books and enjoy smelling and flipping through the pages one at a time. More often than not, I lurk a lot in charity shops and carboots, searching out the most interesting looking book even though I don't read them (still finding time to). It brings me happiness to just collect them and put them up on the shelves, and during random moments I'll take them down one by one and look at them.

One of my favourite childhood books that Mom gave me is "Happy Little Family" by Rebecca Caudill, first published in 1947. (I still have it at home.) 

Someone said that a book holds two stories: one that is fixed at printing -- lovingly pressed in crisp ink onto smooth pages that will remain inside the covers forever; and one that is never ending -- constantly changing with where the book goes, whose hands it passes, the marks those hands and the wear of shear time leaves on a tiny corner of a page or on the whole book itself - be it smell, texture or tea stains. Both stories are equally important and should be valued as such. I  totally A-G-R-E-E!