confession time...i judge books by their covers

I confess.... I judge books by their covers...
I am a reader
I love books
I always have even from a young age, I love tucking my nephew into bed at night and seeing he is not alone... its him and his 20 books-his treasures, his adventures, his Fox-Trot books I remember devouring, his Geronimo Stilton and his adventures, and yes even a few Hardy Boys :)
I remember being excited to spend time in the little library at school reading through the shelves and coming home from the public library, arms laden with books.....saving up my allowance to pay for late books cause I misplaced them or just couldn't part with them just yet.

I recently replaced my ailing book shelves with new ones, unfortunately this meant taking everyone off the shelves and putting everyone back on the shelves.... sadly some didn't make the cut, others I forgot I had still some I realized I had two copies of... why? because they had different covers.

*now a little aside, I am a book cover snob, yes I am in full confession mode, I don't buy a book if it has the "endorsed by Oprah book club" label on it or if it is the movie tie-in version. I will go out of my way to find the original version... big cleansing breath... I can go on*

I have now re shelved many books with some being re homed through our lovely local book shop The Bookman, it is a wonderful shop, two in the area, both are full to bursting with amazing books, previously read and loved waiting to come home with you! As I was able to put all these adventures waiting to be read, mysteries waiting to be solved, stories yet to be told or retold, tears waiting to be shed and punchlines about to crack you up, back onto the shelves into their new homes, I was struck by how many books I remember buying. They are something I have always treasured . Books have come traveling with me for as long as I can remember, you would get your stash of books you were saving for summer holidays, or a good book for the plane you buy in anticipation of the plane ride, I found several books with boarding passes still in them from when and where I was when I read it. Boarding passes make wonderful book marks by the way...

I also have a kindle e-reader. It sits patiently waiting for me to flip it open and try to remember the last book I read on it... I like the feel of a book in my hands, being able to turn pages, pop a bookmark in, receipt, gum wrapper, scrap of paper to keep your place NEVER folding a page over! that's just cruel!

I'm all for saving the trees, but really I can't give up my paper books.... sorry trees. I do use it to read on night shift, the screen does make my eyes weary when on my break more so than paper books... but I should probably be responsible and use all modes of book delivery... but as I said boldly before, I am a paper book junky...I think they have support groups... they meet at the library...

I walk down the middle book aisle at Costco and am disappointed when I don't find one I can bring home with me. I loved when we had Target here in Canada, their book section was GLORIOUS! I often will log onto Chapter website and load up my shopping cart with goodies only to glance over at my stacks of books sitting on my side table and realize these treasure can wait... and that is the true treasure of a book, the words don't go stale, there is no best before date, and they can be read and reread, shared and yes even bought twice, they sit there maybe gathering dust but when you crack them open and let the words pour out they are just as good as when they were fresh picked and placed on the shelves.

So I encourage you to wander past your favourite stash of books, appreciate them, remember them, and if its time pass them along so others can experience the greatness that can be found between the two covers of a good book.