When I choose a book, I don't just think about the latest and greatest title, or what the cover looks like, or whether or not the author seems like a cool person to grab coffee with. I consider much more than that. To me, a book is not something that one simply picks up, skims through, and drops off at the nearest used bookstore. A book is my solitude; my refuge from whatever life event has me feeling out of whack that day. A book is my excuse to retreat to my room and hide under my electric blanket (which, in a house full of poor college students who would rather freeze to death than fork out the extra money for heat, is a wonderful thing). A book is my excuse to stash my cell phone away from time to time in a place where I don't have to respond to its tiresome pestering.
It is my excuse to stay in on a Friday night when I'm feeling drained from a long week of demands, or when I simply want to relax. It is my haven from those difficult dilemmas that we all face in life. Now, don't get me wrong; a book is not my excuse to permanently avoid any and all responsibilities. Rather, it is there to ease my concerns, soothe my mind, and quiet my heart in the most difficult of times, or the most peaceful of evenings.
Books are my friends. In fact, books are some of the best friends I think any of us can ever have. They never demand more from us than we can give. Instead, they challenge us to look outside of our daily lives and into the lives of others. They ask us to empathize, to consider events that we wouldn't regularly dedicate our thoughts to. They only request that we acknowledge what someone else has to say for a change. In a world where all of us are constantly on the go, trying to meet demands that frequently exceed our capabilities, a world where we see our own worst faults and try to control myriads of things that we should simply let be, books are there to relax us. In the conversations we hold with books, they never try to change us, and we don't try to change them. Books hold our hands in their pages and ask us to breath. They assuage our fears, if only for a few blissful moments so that we can recollect ourselves. In a culture where many students my age will never read a book for leisure again in their lifetimes, I am finding more and more value within the pages of my best friends.
As I continue to grow and learn more about my world around me, I find myself running towards books, not away from them. I crave what they have to tell me. After four wonderful, challenging, enlightening years at Village Books, books have not disappointed me once. Their dependability, and the fact that I can trust them unconditionally, are admirable qualities that I find invaluable in people. I know that the world is an unpredictable place, and I haven't even left the North American Continent. I also know that wherever I go, and whatever journeys I wind up taking, books will always be there to comfort and enliven me. After all, isn't that what great friends are for?
--Tiffany
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