avrelia

First of all, I 've got the holiday cards from asta77 and mrissa. Thank you so much!

I loved the “me and books” list I saw on my flist, and I decided to make one myself – instead of commenting on agreements and differences.

1.I love books. That love is very close to reverence.

2. I am not saying that I love all books, or any book I see – quite the contrary. I think more about the idea of a book as the physical object with the words and knowledge and stories inside that gets me. Something about the smell and the feel and the dust of the books makes me happy.


3. I am not sure when I learned to read – the family tradition attributes this memorable event to a certain day in Kiev, when five-year old me read a book aloud for the first time. I kind of remember that day – obviously, not very clear, but it seems to me I could read before that, just never bothered to tell anyone and out myself. I definitely loved books before that and I loved my parents reading me funny stories and scary tales both.

4. In any case, since five I am an avid reader, rarely to seen without a book nearby. At the first stage I was reading everything that had letters, but soon I found my priorities. Happily I had a lot of choice books at home. And even more at my grandparents’ homes. My parents have always loved books and bought them and read them. So for me it was pretty much normal spending all my pocket money on ice-cream and books.

5. What books I read? Mostly fairytales – I had a wide selection of amazing fairytales from different nations. Very beautiful books they were, too. First I read for myself, then I excused myself for reading fairytales for me sister, then I stopped looking for excuses and just read them. I also loved funny books – books that made me laugh. I didn’t love books that ended badly, which unfortunately lead to the habit of looking at the end first, and not reading a huge chunk of classical literature.

6. Books meant stories for me for a very long time. Plot and characters mattered, author and writing and ideas – not so much. Words and phrases – only when they were funny. Authors were a kind of abstraction for me for a long time – even when we studied their biographies at school.

7. At 13-14 I discovered poetry. Discovered in the sense of a viable reading choice in its own write instead of just something I read for school. Suddenly I noticed words and how amazing they are when they fit together. Generally, at 13- 17 I read the most wifely. I read almost everything, in fact – classics, non-fiction (history mostly), s/f, historical novels, fairytales, mysteries, etc. Some of it I needed for school, some of Generally, at 13- 17 I read the most wifely. I read almost everything, in fact – classics, non-fiction (history mostly), s/f, historical novels, fairytales, mysteries, etc. Some of it I needed for school, some of them I read following my friends' example. Some books just were around.

8. At 17 I started the university and my reading habits changed significantly. I mostly stopped reading “serious” literature. I didn’t read less – I read more, I guess, but I read more fantasy, mysteries, romances – and laws: laws themselves, both contemporary and historical, dusty treatises of the pre-revolution jurists, dusty treatises of the soviet jurists, textbooks and anthologies, and journals, and some more laws… Serious literature was out. Not to feel guilty about all the light readings described above I was taking the big books for summer. My summer reading included the Divine Comedy, Orlando Furiozo, stuff like that.

9. when I look back at my university years one of the things I think immediately is books and libraries. I’ve become enthralled by those old formidable dusty-smelling tomes on civil law I read at the libraries. I loved the books - they could write about law in the XIX century! – and I loved the feeling that the generations of students read those very tomes before me. And I loved, oh, I loved the libraries! I was studying both in relatively new university library halls assigned to the law faculty, and in the old halls of the “Fundamental” university library, and the Russian State Library, known as “Leninka.” I loved the latter for the flair of the one of the biggest libraries in the world, marble staircases, oak shelves, labyrinthine structure and OMG! So many books!

10. The school library was a strange place with a strange smell and a strange librarian. At least this is how I remember it. The first book I tried to get there I was denied and was told I was too young to read it. I was too young to be a library patron anyway (normal age was 9 and I was 7 at that moment), so I guess all books were not “age-appropriate” for me. I don’t understand the reason even now, as I couldn’t then and the whole incident left a bad taste so the library didn’t feel very welcoming place at school.

11. At university library was a place for studies (and silliness, and writing), but only here in Canada, libraries became a major source of reading material. Both because there were so many books to read, and because they were so much more expensive than in Russia to buy all of them. (Well, I cannot buy all books I want to read there, too, but the book prices are lower in Russia so far.) I rarely buy books now in Canada, but I enjoy the public libraries here: in Vancouver and Toronto. There are some things that annoy me, but mostly I find them enormously convenient.

12. What else I loved here was library sales in Richmond, BC. They were held twice a year, and I visited them almost always when I lived there. Several times I volunteered there – and had the best choice of the books… So many amazing books for $0,5-1! (it cost us much more to move them across the Canada)

13. I buy books rarely now – I have too many unread books at home and not much space to store them. But when I get to Russia I feel like a starving person who got to the all-you-can-eat buffet. And I know one can die like that, and I feel I can die too – seeing so many books I want to check out, buy, and read immediately. The time constraints add the urgency: I have to figure out what is worthwhile to take on the other side of the world right now – in two weeks. Still, it is a happy feeling.

14. I cannot be without a book. Or, better, two. Whenever I travel I always pack several books with me to read – for different moods. I may not actually have time to read them, but I feel much better knowing that I will have a book to read when I need to. Wherever I go somewhere, I take a book with me. Or more. (Thus it affects the choice of bags. I need a bag that can fit at least one normal-size book.) My husband does the same – in fact it was one of those “defining” moments for me.

15. My reading habits changes over the time – due to the historical changes in my country, and in the book publishing, due to the new places I live in, due to the new friends that recommend me new books, but mostly due to my own changes. I said before that books were the stories for me – and it was true for a long time. Now they are as much texts as they are the stories. They were words when I was struggling with reading in English, then I started to read critically – I not only want to throw book at the wall, I know why exactly I want to do it. Except I cannot physically hurt a book. Just cannot. Even if it is bad. Recently I noticed that I am not able to read badly written books, no matter how good the plot is. Unfortunately I saw too many badly written books during my stay in Russia this year – and only in two weeks! Awful grammar, awkward style, boring tales – they probably existed before as well, but maybe I didn’t notice them? Or didn’t pay much attention? But I remember that I always looked at the middle of a book to check whether I like the language and style. Anyway, a good book makes me as happy as always, maybe even more, because it is harder to find. Mmm, books…