“Readers usually grossly underestimate their own importance. If a reader cannot create a book along with the writer, the book will never come to life. Creative involvement: that’s the difference between reading a book and watching TV.
“In watching TV, we are passive sponges; we do nothing. In reading we must become creators, imagining the setting of the story, seeing the facial expressions, hearing the inflection of the voices. The author and the reader ‘know’ each other; they meet on the bridge of words.” –Madeleine L’Engle from Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, published by Harold Shaw.
One of the oldest books I have in my library was published in the 1800s. Its binding is beginning to fall apart, some of its pages are tattered, it has a bit of a musty smell, and yet it is one of my favorite books. A friend once loaned me a few very old volumes from her collection of books. When presented with one of these books, they are handled with extreme care. Any antiquarian bookseller would agree. In fact, they might even wear gloves before opening the cover and turning a page.
When we were in Kingston for hockey in the late summer of last year, I returned some very old books to the library at the university there for this friend. One of the very first blogs I wrote told the story. I was relieved to pass it over the counter to the librarian. I did not want to be in possession of a piece of history that fragile. It was a one-of-a-kind book, probably the only copy in existence. There is another blog that deals with old books that I wrote that you might want to look up.
My collection has a few very old books and they have earned a special place reserved just for them. They are all irreplaceable because they are at the heart of what this radio show is all about. Some of the words I feature that have touched your heart have been found in some of these books.
I thought I might include some of my favorite writings about books in this blog tonight.
“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences for the same reason a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
“This requires that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”–William Strunk Jr., and E. B. White from The Elements of Style, published by MacMillan.
“Books say, ‘She did this because.’ Life says, ‘She did this.’ Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren’t. I’m not surprised some people prefer books. Books make sense. The only problem is that the lives they make sense of are other people’s lives, never your own.”–Julian Barnes from Flaubert’s Parrot, published by Knopf.
“Literature duplicates the experience of living in a way that nothing else can, drawing you so fully into another life that you temporarily forget you even have one of your own. That is why you read it, and might even sit up in bed till dawn, throwing your whole tomorrow out of whack, simply to find out what happens to some people who–you know perfectly well–are made up.”–Barbara Kingsolver from High Tide in Tucson, published by HarperCollins.
I don’t just buy old books. There’s no denying that I love to spend a day in antique shops that sell old books. I’m also a regular fixture in the chains that sell new books, always looking for something that will enhance your listening experience.
On the occasion of the birthday of one of the great science fiction novelists of all time, tonight I present a tribute to the writing style of Ray Bradbury. I’ve saved one of the best excerpts from his writing for last…
“Half the fun of travel is the aesthetic of lostness. Not being able to put Piccadilly together with Regent Street to distant Charing Cross, that is deliciousness. To go down the Spanish Steps in Rome and–vanish. To go out in Paris midnight crowds and wonder why you love it so, as texture after texture drifts by and you wish you could walk forever.” Ray Bradbury from California, and featured in the Points To Ponder column of the August 1984 issue of the Reader’s Digest.
I hope you’ll get “lost” with me tonight in some of his prose that almost reads like poetry…
Ray Bradburywas born August 22nd, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois.
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Don Jackson
