Dear Boze, thanks for the trek through the stacks you just gave me. I had a frog pond in my backyard at our last house, where the frogs were named for Dickens’ characters - Smallweed, Uriah Heap, Artful Dodger, and my favorite, Judy-Shake-Me-Up. The charm that Dickens has brought to our lives is immeasurable & I love to meet others who grok that. I am decades older than you are, I think, but also grew up not knowing we were poor because there were books. I’ve been reading your tweets for years (now on Bluesky) & look forward to reading longer Substack pieces. Take care. -kimmie
Boze, such a wonderful ode to books and the worlds they show us!
Journeying with you through the trials and travails of your life in Texas, I really savored the moment when you resolved to write . . . either succeeding or failing bravely in the attempt.
It's illuminating to read about your own being-seduced by digital, hypnotic devices and being derailed from the specific and unique joy of reading a real book.
May you start a movement to reclaim the joys and edifications of reading books in our "post-literate world"! Hope springs eternal . . . .
“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.” – Maya Angelou
I grew up with parents who were readers and who read aloud to me daily. When I was about 8 years old, I discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs. On a vacation when I was maybe 8 or 9, the friend we stayed with had a Hornblower omnibus and I started reading and then we had to leave.
Shortly after that, though, we visited The Purple Dragon used book store, down by the railroad tracks in Regina, Saskatchewan, where we lived and it has been the archetype of used book stores for me ever since ... and there was a copy of that same omnibus (which my father bought).
On vacations, while my mother might be shopping at a mall, my father would patiently take me to all the used book stores in whatever town we were visiting. He bought a few; I bought a pile. I never thought of us as poor, though now I realize we certainly didn't have a lot of money, but there always seemed to be enough for me to buy books (especially if I might have just found the Carson of Venus novel I had been missing).
My university memories are very much like yours: heading upstairs in the library at the University of Alberta to the fiction section, where there were shelves of Chesterton, Orczy, probably Sabatini, James Branch Cabell, and more. What better than to have it raining outside and to be in a comfortable chair on the fourth floor during a three hour break between classes and just be able to read?
Now, mind you, I have had to move 10,000 books across the country a couple of times and they still take up a lot of room. But those shelves of books are my favorite room decorations.
> I worry that my experience as an undergrad—of being let loose in a school library and going absolutely feral—is becoming uncommon.
Being near my alma mater and its libraries is one of the few things I enjoy about staying in my college town. I was heartbroken to learn that the humanities library (the main one) recently removed the vast majority of its books to a storage space to make room for study desks. Now you have to order the books for pickup. No more shelves on wheels (I loved them as much as you did when I first saw them). My major wasn't even in the humanities and find this a strange loss. How many times did I go to that library looking for something and coming out with something else? That was how I discovered Logicomix, John le Carré, Dany Laferrière, and all manner of other books. I didn't like them all, and I didn't need any of them, but I did find them.
Thankfully the law, science, Islamic studies, etc. libraries were spared, but I don't pretend I explored them the same way: in STEM our readings were digital and it was better in many ways than the alternative, including exploration. I'm not a Luddite. But tools have uses and often environments are built to the tools we have.
Dear Boze, thanks for the trek through the stacks you just gave me. I had a frog pond in my backyard at our last house, where the frogs were named for Dickens’ characters - Smallweed, Uriah Heap, Artful Dodger, and my favorite, Judy-Shake-Me-Up. The charm that Dickens has brought to our lives is immeasurable & I love to meet others who grok that. I am decades older than you are, I think, but also grew up not knowing we were poor because there were books. I’ve been reading your tweets for years (now on Bluesky) & look forward to reading longer Substack pieces. Take care. -kimmie
Wonderful, thank you.
Yes! More books to the people!
Boze, such a wonderful ode to books and the worlds they show us!
Journeying with you through the trials and travails of your life in Texas, I really savored the moment when you resolved to write . . . either succeeding or failing bravely in the attempt.
It's illuminating to read about your own being-seduced by digital, hypnotic devices and being derailed from the specific and unique joy of reading a real book.
May you start a movement to reclaim the joys and edifications of reading books in our "post-literate world"! Hope springs eternal . . . .
“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.” – Maya Angelou
Blessings, and read on!
Daniel
Wonderful article and so true! Thank you for your recommendations.
I grew up with parents who were readers and who read aloud to me daily. When I was about 8 years old, I discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs. On a vacation when I was maybe 8 or 9, the friend we stayed with had a Hornblower omnibus and I started reading and then we had to leave.
Shortly after that, though, we visited The Purple Dragon used book store, down by the railroad tracks in Regina, Saskatchewan, where we lived and it has been the archetype of used book stores for me ever since ... and there was a copy of that same omnibus (which my father bought).
On vacations, while my mother might be shopping at a mall, my father would patiently take me to all the used book stores in whatever town we were visiting. He bought a few; I bought a pile. I never thought of us as poor, though now I realize we certainly didn't have a lot of money, but there always seemed to be enough for me to buy books (especially if I might have just found the Carson of Venus novel I had been missing).
My university memories are very much like yours: heading upstairs in the library at the University of Alberta to the fiction section, where there were shelves of Chesterton, Orczy, probably Sabatini, James Branch Cabell, and more. What better than to have it raining outside and to be in a comfortable chair on the fourth floor during a three hour break between classes and just be able to read?
Now, mind you, I have had to move 10,000 books across the country a couple of times and they still take up a lot of room. But those shelves of books are my favorite room decorations.
I once toured the University of Alberta on a rainy day - it's really lovely!
> I worry that my experience as an undergrad—of being let loose in a school library and going absolutely feral—is becoming uncommon.
Being near my alma mater and its libraries is one of the few things I enjoy about staying in my college town. I was heartbroken to learn that the humanities library (the main one) recently removed the vast majority of its books to a storage space to make room for study desks. Now you have to order the books for pickup. No more shelves on wheels (I loved them as much as you did when I first saw them). My major wasn't even in the humanities and find this a strange loss. How many times did I go to that library looking for something and coming out with something else? That was how I discovered Logicomix, John le Carré, Dany Laferrière, and all manner of other books. I didn't like them all, and I didn't need any of them, but I did find them.
Thankfully the law, science, Islamic studies, etc. libraries were spared, but I don't pretend I explored them the same way: in STEM our readings were digital and it was better in many ways than the alternative, including exploration. I'm not a Luddite. But tools have uses and often environments are built to the tools we have.