This morning I sat down to write about what I was thankful for, and wasn’t compelled to write anything. It wasn’t that I couldn’t come up with anything to be thankful about, I just wasn’t moved enough to sit down and write about it.
What I’ve learned over the past nineteen days, is that usually means something else will come to me later in day, that I feel strongly about, so I should wait. And, something came to me.
What I’m thankful for today is bookstores. Good, old fashioned, books on shelves, books in windows, books on tables and counters bookstores. And I’m especially thankful that the wonderful bookstore in historic downtown Monument is the FIRST bookstore to have my book in stock. That’s right . . . you can go into Covered Treasures, at the corner of Second and Washington and look at the book. You can pick it up, thumb through it and then BUY it!
I read books on my iPad as much, or more, than anyone else. I read a crazy number of books and if I wasn't able to download them in an instant and dive into a new one the minute I finish the one before, I would be pouty.
On the other hand, there are certain books, that I have to hold in my hands and read. Unbroken was like that, and Songs of Willow Frost will be too. With a book that beautifully designed, it deserves the honor of being held in my hands while I read it.
The other thing about bookstores, is you can have a conversation about books, rather than just reading arbitrary reviews by people you know nothing about. When I ask Tommie, the owner of Covered Treasures, about a book, I know I will get her honest opinion about it. Even if it’s just to say she hasn't read it yet. I also know Tommie’s taste. If there is a book I might not necessarily be interested in, but Tommie recommends it to me and says she thinks I would enjoy it . . . I buy it. You can read through online reviews, but you can’t ask those online reviewers questions and get immediate answers like you can with a living, breathing person working in a bookstore.
And to take it a step further, I’m thankful for independent bookstores. In the same way I love to go to Margo’s on the Alley when I need a special gift for someone, because I know Margo and love the special things she picks out to have in her store, independent bookstores are the same way. They don’t carry every book ever published, on every subject ever written about . . . they carry the things they believe their readers, their customers, would enjoy, or ask for, or be interested in. That isn’t to say they can’t order any book on any subject. But, if I know I want a book, particularly to give as a gift, but I don’t know what I’m looking for, I go to Covered Treasures.
Just yesterday Tommie told me about a book she thought Frank would really enjoy reading. It’ll be one of his Christmas gifts. I didn’t even need Tommie to tell me why, I just know that she knows Frank . . . so if she thinks he’ll like it, he will.
I love books. I’ve always loved reading them, in the last couple of years, I’ve learned that I love to write them too. As much as I can’t imagine a world without music, a world without books would be so much worse.
Books, bookstores and people like Tommie—that’s what I’m thankful for today.
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