Books…

Books have been an integral part of my life.  I don’t remember reading much during my childhood, only the classics for school and Vogue magazine in Spanish.  That one I loved.  That’s how Paris became my dream, from the time I was fifteen.  It took me 46 years to accomplish that one, and  I celebrated my 61st birthday, along with my lovely daughter at Le Grand Colbert in Paris, France.  Staff was just delightful.

Let’s go back to the books.  As you have noticed, I have a tendency to deviate from the subject matter.  ADD?  Always had a suspiction I was one of those.  No problem.  I think most of us have that characteristic.  Now, don’t anyone be offended.  Everybody has something.  If it isn’t one thing, it is another.  You see, again, I am leaving my focussed point.

Books have been my best friends and advisors when I have been faced with some big impact situations.  What I like about books is that you are gaining somebody’s else experience without having to go through it, most of the time.  Also, they open the door to so much knowledge, that according to one of the characters of my favorite soap, “India,” that’s the only thing that cannot be taken away from you.  Almighty knowledge.

Books accommodate everyone.  There’s a book for each personality, trait, style, and mood.  You cannot help it but love them.

I think the best feature the United States of America has is its library system.  In the country where I was born, still to this day, you cannot take books out of the library, if there is any in your town.  In the 1940’s when I was born, in my hometown there was not a library then.  I grew up under a dictatorship, and he subscribed to the mushroom theory.  Keep them in the dark, feed them **  and watch them grow.   A library is the most important place in any town, USA.   I cannot imagine my life without that fringe benefit.

Love used book sales.  I would leave my house at midnight (when I used to live in Florida) to get in line for one of best used book sales in the South.  Gainesville.  By 9 am, when they would open the doors, I felt kind of tired and in a zombie zone, but the rush of adrenaline was incredible.  I forgot to mention, my belated husband and I used to have the cutest and best antiquarian bookshop in Florida, I think.  It was located in Mt. Dora.  He didn’t like the use of the word cute.  He was kind of a serious bookseller.  He enjoyed every second of that phase in our lives.

Honoring books, libraries, bookstores, and used book sales, I remain,

Your Happy Contessa