A Good Way to De-Stress

Yesterday, I ran several errands, and one happened to be next to a book store. Since I had nothing calling me home immediately, I decided to browse and see what was new in the book world. I don't do it too frequently because once I open the door and glide into the aisles and aisles of books, I'm lost for a good long time.

This visit was no different. First, I looked at the display tables of new books, both fiction and non-fiction. There were a good many that I passed right over as they were science fiction, vampire books, mysteries that were a bit too much blood and gore and paranormal. I prefer historical fiction, family sagas, romance, suspense and adventure books.

I spent a little time at a display of Halloween books for children, considering a couple for my two youngest grandchildren. And then it was on to the regular fiction shelves. This particular store puts both new and used books on the same shelves, the used ones having a large dark green, wrap-around label on the bottom. I noticed that there would often be both new and used copies of the same title. The used books were not tattered and torn, they were all in very good condition, so which one to pick was a no-brainer.

I found two used books that appealed to me. Were money no object, I probably would have selected about a dozen more. I must admit that I buy few books. I read more from the library than I do books I purchase. I fear the book store will not make it on my purchases. I do buy books for gifts, however, and I love spending time in book stores.

Browsing in a book store is one of the most calming activities I know. My love for books manages to over-ride any stress about other things that I might have.  For me, being amongst hundreds, perhaps thousands of books feels like a shower of one of  life's greatest blessings.

Next time you're feeling harried and stressed, try a visit to a book store. Lose yourself among the words of others and let the rest go.

It Only Takes One Person

We had a wonderful Easter week-end with our daughter's family. They live near Kansas City, so we stayed over one more night and went into town to do a little shopping before heading home.

One of our stops was at Costco where we stocked up on a number of items. I'm mostly a library user, but Ken is a slower reader, so he generally buys the books he reads. Costco has a good sized book section, both hardbacks and paperbacks, all at a nicely reduced price. While I was cruising the aisles looking for the things on my list, Ken spent a fair amount of time looking for a book. He ended up with one of the newer David Baldacci books.

Since time was a factor, I didn't browse the book section. When I get near a lot of books, I'm lost for a long time, so I knew I'd better forgo that pleasure today. And believe me, it was not easy. All I did was take a quick glance across the entire section. Certain bookcovers called out to me, but I stayed strong and passed them by.

But ast we drove home to Manhattan across the Flint Hills, I started to think about all those books. There were so many books and so many authors. Walk into your local library, the nearest Barnes and Noble, or scan through the Amazon site. Thousands of books, and each one came into existance because one person had an idea. One person had a driving desire to write a story that turned into a novel or perhaps a nonfiction book. One person plotted and planned. One person sat before the computer, or in years past--a typewriter, or some even wrote in longhand, but they all spent hours and hours creating the book that you can read in far less time than it took them to write it.

The authors of all those books are people of various temperaments as well as different cultures, religions, races and political persuasions. Some are young, some are elderly. Some are likable, some are not. But whomever they might be, they have written a book which proved good enough to be published and have provided pleasure, information or enlightment for thousands of people.

I'm still feeling the pain of not being able to browse through the book section today, so maybe tomorrow I'll head to my local bookstore for the afternoon and see what's new.