I’ve been reading in an unusual way since my Dad passed. Reading whole books seem too hard at the moment. So I’ve taken to reading favourite excerpts. This is similar to the way you might approach non-fiction. Looking for the most relevant section. Except I’m looking for the part with the most personal meaning. The contents page doesn’t help much with that.
I wish I’d bookmarked my favourite passages when I first came across them. Now, when I need comfort and hope, I’m wasting time searching for it. Among books I’ve previously read but never thought to label in some way at the time.
Like many readers, I have numerous bookmarks that are rarely used. Now I realise why they should be. Hindsight is an annoying thing.
Finding the words
Losing your place while reading is a minor inconvenience. It’s not like you’re never going to find it again. Losing a line, paragraph, scene, or chapter, in one of many, many books, is entirely more problematic.
When only a particular phrase, a feeling evoked by one individual character, in one unique story, will soothe you – then those are the words you must find.
I encourage you to free your lovely bookmarks from their prison of a drawer or box. Be unstinting in the use of the highlighter tool on your ereader. Bestow on them the value of a purpose fulfilled. Let them stand ready to piece a broken soul back together, and fill the cracks with joy and inspiration once more.
You never know when you might need that.
Honour the authors
As well as the comfort these old friends can bring you, this is kind of reader’s ritual. A way of honouring those authors whose words have changed your view of the world. Whose words have changed you. Which is something that can be done at any time, not just when you need books for support.
Question of the Week
My favourite scene is the debate about whether the Earth rotates in the medieval mystery, A Wicked Deed by Susanna Gregory. It is impossible not to smile while reading this. What is a scene from a book that makes you feel happier?
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Deborah Grant-Dudley 