Mission

Bibliophiliac is the space where one passionate, voracious reader reflects on books and the reading life. You will find reviews, analysis, links, and reflections on poetry and prose both in and out of the mainstream.

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Franz Kafka

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Sunday Coffee: Full Immersion

Immersed in Books

One of the pleasures of being a reader is the feeling of being immersed in the world of books. Books give me so much comfort, and sometimes life leaves us needing some comfort. This week has been a good reading week and a busy life week. Here are a few bookish things that have been going on:

Last weekend my husband and I explored a fantastic bookstore in Savannah, Georgia: The Book Lady Bookstore. When we walked in I fell in love; I also felt like this is what my house could look like in a few years. I mean there were books everywhere. Books in bookcases and on tables and even stacked in piles along the floor. I came away with three books, and believe me, that is indicative of incredible self-control. I bought another copy of Madame Bovary (one of my favorite novels, and I feel I can't have too many copies of it). This was a pocket-sized Oxford Classics edition with a really pretty cover. I got a first edition of Blacker Than a Thousand Midnights by Susan Straight, and a short story collection by Elizabeth Jolley. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have run across these three books in any other bookstore. I love the way a small, independent bookstore can reflect the taste and sensibility of the people who work there.

This week we were fortunate to have writer Kim Purcell visit our school for a day. Purcell is the author of a YA novel, Trafficked. Naturally, I wanted to read her book before her visit. I zipped through this book in just over a day (I actually got up at 5:00 a.m. and finished the last twenty pages the day of her visit). The novel is about a teenager from Moldova who travels to Los Angeles to be a nanny for a Russian family, only to find herself a slave, with her safety and emotional well-being at risk. I really liked the main character, Hannah, and thought the book was well-written and fast-paced. Trafficked was nominated for a SC Young Adult Book Award, which is one reason why Purcell came to our state. I thought Purcell did a great job of relating to our students, and I enjoyed her presentation very much (more on that in a separate post).

Finally: I finally, finally read John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. Yes, it lived up to the hype. There were a lot of things going on around me, but somehow I managed to immerse myself in Green's novel (and the world of Hazel and Augustus). I officially love John Green. I guess that makes me a nerdfighter.
So, even when the world is whirling around me at its own crazy pace, I can always slow the world down by immersing myself in the world of books.

How do you immerse yourself in books? Do you find a little out-of-the-way bookstore and browse for an hour, or do you sink into your favorite book?

9 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I so agree with you about The Fault in Our Stars - it's a magnificent book.

Andi said...

I'm so glad to know that TFiOS lived up to the hype for you! I haven't tried it yet, but it's waiting patiently on my Nook.

Care said...

Whoa - was TFiOS your first Green? or did it just solidify a fondness? just curious... I must check out Trafficked - original, fresh and current? or is all that redundant? I like YA when it wakes me up to something I feel I should know about but don't.

Bybee said...

I like to immerse myself in a bookstore, but I more often find a coffee shop and settle in with an engrossing read.

bibliophiliac said...

@bermudaonion-It's nice when a book actually lives up to the hype, isn't it! I'm so glad I finally read this book.

bibliophiliac said...

@Andi-Read it! Now! Or maybe save it for when you are in a reading funk, but TFiOS is beautiful!

bibliophiliac said...

@Care-I started out with Looking for Alaska--I kept hearing about that book from my students. Now I am a solid John Green fan. I thought Trafficked was good, but I haven't read much on the topic. One of my students read it and did a book talk, and she really loved it.

bibliophiliac said...

@Susan Bybee-of course, the ideal is a bookstore that also has a coffee shop!

Lisa said...

I have not had (taken) the time to really hang out in a book store in a long time. With books coming in the mail and onto the Nook I rarely need to go and with so many book already waiting for me to read them, I can't really justify buying any. But I do miss spending that time amongst all of those old friends and new ones I haven't met yet!