THE WEIRS TIMES & THE COCHECO TIMES, Thursday, December 1, 2011 A
brendan@weirs.com
inNEW HAMP SHI R E BOOK WORM
FOOL * Live Free *A FLATLANDER’S OBSERVATIONS ON LIFE or Die.
by Brendan Smith Weirs Times Editor
I have a pretty fair amount of books. Over the years, as thing
have changed in my life, and I’ve lived in differ- ent places, I’ve always brought my books with me. A sort of literary no-
mad. The last time I moved,
in 2008, I had about a dozen or more of those big plastic storage containers full of books. I’m sure in total, they were close to half of the weight of ev- erything I moved. Then again, I didn’t have a lot of furniture. I’m pretty much a hoard-
er when it comes to books. I don’t have a problem throwing away anything else: appliances, clothes, bad relationships, but when it comes to books, it’s hard for me to let go. I’ve always loved to read
ever since I was a kid. I’m not sure where the love of reading came from. I don’t remember any one adult or teacher who instilled it in me; I just remember always being enamored of books. I read a lot of age level books growing up, noth- ing too dramatic early on. But I remember one day sneaking into my older brother Greg’s room, and looking through his small collection of books and being intrigued by the all red cover of “The Catcher In The Rye.” I think I was about eleven or twelve at the time. I hunkered down in a
chair in his room and started to read. It was the first time I
had been truly fascinated by a book. I carefully put the book
back in its exact location each time I was done and, when I got the chance, I’d
sneak back in again to read more. There was always a big
deal made about “The Catcher In The Rye.” Some places had condemned it because of language. There was some but, by today’s standards, your average network eight o’clock sitcom is a lot worse. After I finished reading
“The Catcher In The Rye” I got the bug to start writ- ing myself. I thought, as an eleven-year-old, the books’ main character, Holden Caulfield, was pretty cool, and I wanted to write a story like that one. That’s when I realized
how hard it was to write a story that seemed like it wasn’t hard at all to write, if that makes any sense. I read “The Catcher In
The Rye” many times over the years. As I got old- er, I didn’t think Holden Caulfield was the hero I had imagined when I was
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younger. In my twenties, I found him annoying. When I read it again in my forties, I found him to be just a disillusioned kid. I love it when a book can
keep affecting you every time you read it. Af ter reading “The
Catcher In The Rye.” I was really hooked. I couldn’t get enough of books. I was never a big library
guy as I always wanted to own the books I read. Today, I have hundreds in my collection. Not every book I bought
was a great one, many weren’t even close to being good, but still I dragged them along with me, at the risk of knees and back, every time I would move. Recently, I have come to
terms with getting rid of some of these books, giv- ing them to local libraries for their book drives. I felt like one of those people in the show “Hoard- ers.” There seemed to be some stupid reason in
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my head for keeping each book as I decided between the save or discard pile. I must admit, I still kept more than I should have. When all was said and
done, there were about five boxes of books to give away and still mountains of books that stayed. It was a hard compro-
mise.
Then, on my birthday, I got a Kindle. It was something I had
thought about recently but was reluctant to get for myself. It seemed a sacrilege to read a book that I couldn’t truly hold in my hands and flip the paper pages. But, I must admit, I have taken to the Kindle. But, I make sure to read it out of sight of my other books, lest they get jealous. With devices like The Kindle, I guess the days of massive libraries of books might one day be ancient
3
history. To me that’s sad, but times do change. Per- haps the transition to books from scrolls way back when was just as dramatic. “The scroll, I’ll never give
up the scroll, nothing will ever be as good as the scroll!” Still, in the end, the
important thing is that people keep writing and people keep reading, no matter what the format. I’m working on a book myself. I had always imag- ined the day my bestseller would grace personal li- braries across the coun- try. If I don’t finish it soon it might just be a down- load.
Still, if I can affect some-
one’s life with what I have to say, then I’ll take what- ever I can get.
Brendan Smith wel-
comes your comments at
brendan@weirs.com.
EXPERIENCE IT LIVE!
Dark Star Orchestra Continuing the
Grateful Dead Concert Experience
Worth
the DRIVE! WE SHIP!
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