Post #2: What is a book?

A book is a getaway. Whether it is the feeling you get when you see the beautifully designed book cover or the words that were carefully chosen by the author on each page. Each book has its own meaning. Its own message behind it. Somewhere hidden inside the lines and spaces is a memory of the author. I believe that the author has a purpose for writing the things he writes. He or she develops a story based upon a feeling they want you to experience or a memory they want you to recall. I think that books can take you places. Books have the power to let you picture and imagine the story and characters however you would like. You can take each character and just envision what it would be like if they were sitting right next to you in that moment.  A book can help you break free from reality and go to this little world that the author has create.

I like being able to hold an actual paperback book in my hands. I know that’s what the author meant for the book to be when he or she wrote it. The way the format of the words as they are typed out on the page, the font that the book is in, or the weight of the book in your hand or lap as you read it. That book has volume not only in the number of pages but in the emotion that was put into the book. I hate how Victor LaValle makes fun of the idea of an author “bleeding on the page” in a way. I have gotten books handed down to me through the years and I think it means a lot getting a book that my mom gave to me and her mom gave to her and my grandma’s mom gave to her. It’s special. It grasps on to history and carries it with you wherever it goes.

I understand the convenience of a kindle, iPad, or phone. I think they are amazing devices that are technologically advanced. They can do more than just read books and that the valuable part about them. But the thing is, that doesn’t change the value behind a physical book. Books have mass, they have weight, they have a special feeling, and they have a book cover that you see every time you go to read the book. A story is a story; they are right about it in that sense. But a book is more than just a story. A book is a getaway.