It is the feeling of being surrounded by the stories of people past, present and future, the journeys of artists, the passion of the words, the knowledge and wisdom. It's like walking into a giant party where ideas are mingling around sipping cocktails or playing a cordial game of pool while others hang from the ceilings and a few have jumped into the pool with their clothes on and are seeing who can hold their breath the longest.
In short, bookstores to me feel alive, life each and every book has its own pulse, its own history. Just thinking about this gives me a head rush
Have you ever noticed that bookstores are designed like a maze in which you can find your own little corner while you lose yourself in another world? It's like bookstores are a gym I can go to to let my imagination run a few kilometres and lift some weights (although I wish going to the actual gym was this easy).
It's good to see that in an age when you can read Shakespeare on an iPad and the newspaper on your phone, it's still possible to hole up on a window sill of a bookstore on a rainy day with a book in your hands and read for hours.
So I am grateful for bookstores. I am grateful that they inspire me, enliven me, refresh me and make me explore. I am grateful for the people who make bookstore a possibility, especially the people who work there and the authors, who have lent their minds to others so they can be entertained or enraged or educated or confused or joyful or sad, but always feeling something.
No comments:
Post a Comment