Becoming Literate

Yesterday, I had a breakthrough. I had been in the library computer lab for hours and realized that I needed to leave the presence of loud obnoxious keyboards and Facebook addicts immediately. I didn't have a class for about 45 minutes, so I decided to take a look in the bookstore. I walked in the door and right away noticed a display featuring one of my favorite books, Tuesdays with Morrie. I turned the corner and saw another display of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. All of the classics that I've ever wanted to read were right in front of my eyes with hardcovers in gorgeous greens and blues. Each book had a different design in a complementary color embossed over the cover and spine. I'm pretty sure I stood there staring for a good 5 minutes before I realized they were in fact real, tangible objects that I could pick up and look at. I picked up a copy of Sense and Sensibility and flipped through the pages. I sat and opened to a random page and started reading. I was soon immersed in the lives of Marianne, Mr. Willoughby and Elinor and was almost late to my class. I hope that I can make this a regular occurrence because it made me so happy. Just holding the book made me happy. Having taken a Bookbinding class my first semester here at BYU, I know how much time and concentration would have gone into creating such a perfect book. Realistically, it was probably made in under a minute by big machines, but I like to picture an old gray-haired man sitting at a work bench under dim lights carefully holding each part of the book like it is a great treasure. I like to imagine that people who truly know the great value of books really do exist. I'm sure they're people like that out there. I hope to be one of them someday. Over the summer, I was able to visit an old book store in Yellowstone Park. They had a variety of new and antique books. I could have been there for hours. There is something almost reverent about holding a book with yellow faded pages and a slightly battered cover and thinking about the people who read this book. That's when I realized that I have a very strong fascination with books. I hope someday to have a large library filled with books. For now, I'll have to just enjoy my time reading in the bookstore.