My friend Alice is a keeper of books. Not a bookkeeper (the recorder of financial affairs). She is a librarian? Yes, that may be the professional name for what she does day in and day out at a local high school library. But, I am not really talking about that.
I spent the past week in her Florida home. A few miles from the Atlantic coast. Ocean breezes - salty. Palm trees - coconut and that other kind (I can't remember). Soothing. Appealing. I would be able to rest here.
Alice is one of my old gal pals, and I hope you won't mind that I call her "Al the Pal." I always knew Al loved books. She has taught me how to handle books carefully and to sniff them, too. [ahhhh, to nuzzle one's nose in the middle of an old book and whiff the pages. This is extreme literary appreciation].
Walking into Al's house is to walk into a reader's land. Shelves with lots and lots of books. And not only shelved volumes, but stacks of books on ottomans, tables of any type, and on the floor. Paperbacks and hardbacks, old and new, dog-eared, marked, and underlined. Some standing, others leaning or laying flat. Inviting. Classics. Culture. Children. Fantasy. Suspense and mystery. History. Memoirs. Even books on how to train a dog.
And, here's more: Rocking chairs. Several. Comfy and deep. Places, near the books, to stop and read a few lines or the whole volume.
One night I asked Al to tell me about what she has been reading lately [as we have always done for many years]. She talked and I took notes! [ha ha] She would read paragraphs and sentences out loud to me [not too long though, because she knows I have a short attention span]. Most of our conversations revolve around God's truth and how it permeates the pages of books she has read.
Al is the Keeper of Books. God has given her an honorable charge of treasuring the written word - past and present. She has volumes and volumes hidden in her soul. Yes, that's right, she is a gifted storyteller, too. I trust her to tell me about what books are true, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy (Philipppians 4.8). My Lori Beth calls her "Madame Librarian" because she trusts her, too.
Since we have been friends, I have accumulated lots of books of my own. I love books and would almost rather spend my pennies in a bookstore than any other place.
Thanks Al, my pal, for the influence and the experience.
3 comments:
I'm jealous of your book talk time with Alice. I had some in November and December, and it is certainly good time. There is not a better place for inside reading than the sun room in Alice's house.
Chris
wow... just reading that made me want to pull out some of my old books. They smell almost as good as sawdust. (My grandfather was a carpenter. The smell of sawdust brings good memories to me.)
Reading is my favorite thing in the world to do. It's almost an addiction of sorts. Pulling myself away to do what needs to be done, is a lesson in tesponsibility for me that I am still learning.
Ah! Books...I love books. I loved looking at the pictures of Alice's books! Makes me want to brew a cuppa and curl up back there in that chair and read the day away.
Money spent on books is money well spent. Time spent reading is time well spent. 'nuff said.
It was good to hear from you again, friend. I kept checking back and only hearing the crickets chirp! :-)
Glad for your time with Alice!
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