Say what?? Memories on bookshelves? Let me explain. I'm not so great at remembering details from the books I read. In fact, if you give me a quiz a week after reading a novel, I will probably fail it. When I look at a book I've read, I don't think about the story, I think of how I felt when I read the book and things that went on around me as I read it. When I sit in my room and look at my bookshelf (yes, I do it a lot) I am transported back to the time I read that book. I feel the emotions I felt as I read it.
When I see Austenland, I think of the time I was listening to it on audiobook while I was cleaning my tiny, rotting kitchen in the old, run-down apartment we lived in in Texas. When I look at the book, I remember the nausia I felt (I was about 12 weeks pregnant) and the occasional glances at Jones playing his game on the Xbox. I remember that I was able to clean the entire kitchen, the dining room, our bedroom and our bathroom in one evening as I listened to the story. When I see Goose Girl, I am transported forward 5 months to our newer, less rotty apartment (still in Texas) where I lay on my bed with a very large belly. I can remember the anticipation and the excitement: I was days from delivering our son. My Mother-in-Law was cooking all of our meals and the story was wonderful. The Eye of the World takes me back to my freshman English class where I was so painfully shy but was somehow able to carry on an entire conversation with Mr. Moore about my newly discovered love of reading fantasy (I also remember writing an essay about how I was a perfect candidate for the "Honers" English class--somehow I made it in). When I see The Actor and the Housewife I remember laying at the foot of the bed and noticing the clock: 4 AM. With the husband out of town, I had nobody to remind me to go to sleep; with the newborn in the next room I did have somebody to remind me to wake up in two hours. It might have been because it was so late, but this book caused me to experience some pretty amazing emotions. I will never forget the moment in the story where I cried and laughed out loud at the same time.
To me, books are more than just stories on paper. Books are physical representations of my emotions and my memories. I'm not just collecting books; I am collecting my experiences.
