Bookshelves

I am not sure there is any better place to be than a bookstore. I love being totally surrounded by shelves of books. Maybe the books are a physical representation of possibilites. I could open one and know something totally new, immediately. Or, many times, I could purchase the book to put on one of my own bookshelves. I wouldn't even have to read it to enjoy it. I could put it up for later. A glance up at the shelf would be comforting, knowing that something new was waiting for me there, whenever I wanted.

Of course, these days almost any kind of knowledge or any type of story that one could desire could be most quickly accessed electronically. I'm practically in love with Google. I continue to be amazed at all the things I can do with Google . . . for absolutely FREE! (unless you want to argue about ads, which I couldn't care less about unless they flash obnoxiously.) And I could read almost any book I wanted on a Kindle. I have wanted one since the first day it was advertised on the Amazon website . . . a long time ago. I would love it. But I have held out for one reason. I'm afraid of no longer having the excuse to wander among bookshelves, not actually knowing if the book I want is there until I see the spine . . . or until I notice the author's last name is just not there. Believe it or not, I am rarely disappointed when the book I want is not available on the shelf. It gives me a reason to go to another bookstore . . . and possibly stumble upon some other great find. Sometimes finding what I am NOT looking for is the better outcome.

That was the beauty of Acres of Books, an incredible bookstore in Long Beach, California. I say "was" because it closed in October of 2008, I think because of somebody else's idea of progress. I'm sure something pretty is there now, but probably nothing that could have the impact on me that the bookstore did. On a visit to California, my parents dropped me off to wander through the maze of dusty, leaning bookshelves that seemed to go on forever. Something like a million books there. Or it seemed. Hours later they returned and my dad found me standing in the middle of one of the narrow aisles with tears in my eyes. I was overwhelmed with the joy of it all. It wasn't like any bookstore I'd ever been in. "Random" is the best word I can think of to describe it. It might have had a certain classic that I was looking for, but it was equally likely that I would look in the somewhat alphabetically arranged space where it should be and find an amazing book self published by a woman a hundred years ago when she wasn't even "supposed" to be thinking, much less recording her thoughts!

So . . . yeah, one day I will have a Kindle or some kind of reader. But for now I'm happy with my own randomly stocked bookshelves at home. If electronic makes you happy, then you can virtually shelve books at Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/ It is very satisfying to click on a book, mark it read, and say my peace about it if I want. But if you are in love with the physical nature of books, then you have to look at this bookshelf blog: http://theblogonthebookshelf.blogspot.com/ The featured shelves are far beyond the ordinary imagination.

Enjoy your bookshelves . . . whatever kind they are!

What is there to say?

I started to say that the problem with creating a new blog is deciding what to say. I'm rethinking that. I think the bigger issue would be what NOT to say. There are so many things I do want to write about, and it is tough to narrow my thoughts. I want to tell all about the important things in life . . . life as I see it anyway. I'd like to at least get into words and images the things in my world that make life worth living, even in the difficult times . . . the things that would give me strength to fight my way into the lifeboat instead of giving up and drowning in a dark stormy sea of troubles.

Some of the important things are funny . . . like the picture of my dogs Gabbi and Murphy . . . a picture I had to photoshop in order to get them close to each other. It wasn't love at first sight.

For most things in my life, love comes much more easily . . . family, friends, the children I teach. And there are so many things that interest me. I always wanted to know "a little bit about a lot of things."

I think I will have to write about books . . . reading many of them . . . and just filling up my house with others, simply because it feels right.

And I definitely need to write about school. Work, that is. I have many, many more teaching ideas than I could ever actually put into practice. I have a bizillion links for teachers: lists of educational websites for kids, ideas for using technology in the classroom, sites for parents, good shopping places for teachers. I have a lot to say about writing itself, especially about journaling and teaching students to love it. Maybe when I learn it, I will even write about formatting blog posts when your favorite punctuation is the ellipses!

I imagine I might end up writing some "what does it mean?" posts too. I try not to go there too often, but invariably it happens . . . especially after a long conversation with one of the "sistas." But I really do hope to get to spend a lot of time just writing to show my favorite people all of the cool things that exist, just in case they didn't already know it. Maybe one of them will actually find another reason or two to "head for the lifeboat!"