Caution! Danger Ahead!

 I was busy mending a pair of Bill's pants today when I was surprised by the postman knocking on the door. We don't usually get mail delivery on Saturdays, but there he was with a parcel from Kenny's Books, an indie bookshop in Galway. Bill opened it and handed me this book:

What a fun surprise! He said he was reading something online and an ad for the book popped up. Usually neither of us would pay much attention, but this caught his eye and I apparently came to mind at once. I can't imagine why 😉😏He went clicking around, found it at Kenny's and ordered it. Now it's mine and I couldn't be more thrilled! It's a book filled with art depicting women engaged in the dangerous activity that is reading. Here's the back:

It's so interesting to consider how terrified people have been--and still are--by books and reading. From limits to who has been allowed to learn to read, to what kinds of things certain people are allowed to read, books (and the ideas they contain) have always been dangerous to some people. And yet, books haven't gone anywhere. People try to contain and control books and their contents and they don't succeed. And how wonderful that it is so! I can't imagine a life without books and wouldn't even want to try. Bill and I interviewed a 106-year-old woman and her 70-something daughter a couple of decades ago. Both were readers, but the elder was unable to see well enough to read or hear well enough to listen to audiobooks. She talked a lot about what books meant to her throughout her life. She remembered a book about fossils that she won in elementary school (which would have been approximately a century before). She lit up when she talked about how excited she was when her very first library book was mailed to her very rural home when the library was new. She loved books, language, and learning. She was a teacher of French, among other things. Then she got married and her husband didn't want her to be too tired to take care of him when he got home from work, so she stopped doing the job she loved and was so obviously suited for. She kept reading though and I have always hoped that provided some consolation to her as she went through the years thinking about the other life she might have had. When we left, I sat in our truck and I cried. I wouldn't have thought it possible for me to appreciate books and my access to them any more than I already did, but I think after listening to her, I did. 

I know that I'll enjoy every minute I spend with this book. It and Bill are definitely keepers 😃

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