Above the Meadows, In Dreams
Lover of the English language. Teacher. Traveller. Bookworm. German.
If only everyone in my life understood this… It would be so much easier if they just got it.
(via prettybooks)
Fight Evil.
Read Books.
You read the books they require
Because it’s what you desire
When you found literature in your life
It ended your longing and strife
You fall into stories
The way others fall in love
With all your heart and soul
Burrowing close and filling a hole
The words cast a spell
On your mind and its wandering thoughts
That rarely leaves before you fall once more
Into legend and myth and love
No story is wrong or a struggle
They envelop you no matter the title
Your studies became your passion
And your life became whole when you began to read
I came up with some new bookish resolutions for 2013. Read why I picked each resolution here.
(via elsewatchyourlanguage)
I work at a bookstore at the moment. Today, when a woman came in and paid for her books, she said something I found encouraging. She said, “It simply wouldn’t be Christmas without giving books as presents.” She had bought the German translation of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. A few days before, I gift-wrapped the English original of the same book for a man my age who planned to give it to his younger sister for Christmas. I bonded with both customers over a book I enjoyed a lot this year. And they seemed to have a similar understanding of books and reading and giving books as presents as I have. It gave me hope.
Working in a bookstore can be rewarding and maddening at the same time. Most bookstores have lost their small-business atmosphere. They belong to big corporations or sprawling franchises. They have layouts and designs and displays forced upon them by marketing strategists at headquarters far from the actual shop. Also, more and more, bookstores have to cater to the customer’s diverse wishes for products. Bookstores sell postcards and paper products and local specialties. They become souvenir shops instead of oases of calm knowledge and wisdom.
And yet, I marvel at the resilience of the actual book. During these weeks, leading up to Christmas, more books cross the check-out counter than any other products in our bookstore. People buy gift cards and books en masse, treating their family and friends to the newest bestsellers, the funniest non-fiction, the most thrilling crime novels, and the most elaborate fantasies. They buy stories and give away worlds for their friends to fall into. This gives me hope.
People still read. People still buy books. And I can still connect with them because we share a love for the written word.
Truth!
(Source: vicksiky, via teachingliteracy)
