What Books Hold
By: Vincent Apunike
Tags: Chicago, Libraries, Books, Publishing

First of all, let’s consider how the world would be without this form of representation, communication, storage, and power. Writers are amazing people and most times I think that everyone is one because we all got stories to tell. Personally for me and others who take it further, everything connected to a book makes sense. Starting from the urge to read born from the curiosity to learn. Someone said the cheapest way to travel is by reading a book; I agree because of how wide my horizon is. Picking out what to read is almost a salient art. Checking out the covers, picking up another that tickles our fancy, holding on to one in particular — digging for more. Let’s not forget the smell as it hits our nostrils, a part of our senses already adjusting to new stimuli which might require some suspensions of disbelief. I am talking about the future, the present, and the past. Ideas and manifestations that have overraching sensibilities while still retaining value by the meanings we attach to them. I am talking about believing. One good book can forever change your life. Imagine what many more can do in the process which is a story itself. I am talking about reading and learning as much but applying civil sense and generous discernment. Book holds information by creating a connection that drips with imaginations and lead to reality.

Refrence is important because who really knows what the truth is although there are many ways to ascertain a truth. I used to say that I find those who don’t read as courageous people because they have the confidence of not wanting more knowledge. I found myself in a situation where I had to make a clear decision about the best ways to harness everything I have including tempting anecdotes that could scatter instead of build. I always had a need to find meaning. I never really had many to ask questions or if they would understand. Luckily, many things have been said, written, and implied by really intelligent people. All I had to do was push myself and I did. I still do till today. I am not saying books are the only tools for informing but damn. The adage about hiding something in a book is the way to deceive a black person is obsolete. I am not talking only about fiction and non fiction texts that beautify shelves. Scientific recordings, religious texts, journals of various fields, scribblings that could turn to something more and the plethora of modern ways we assimilate contents. Audio books are cool, makes me think of wonderful families that read to their children at night. Book clubs that are not just investing time in the sweet content exceptionally delivered by the writer but also sharing their imaginations with one another in the refrenced work. One of the biggest advantage something like fiction has remains that invitation extended to the audience by the writer to feel more, think, relate, connect deeper.

I have seen someone plead, "Read at least one book a year." For me that’s poor. I know voracious readers that count by the week. I remember an influencer on Instagram that shares her reading experiences, helping us undertake reading as a form of relaxation. Reading comes easier to some people for many reasons. At the end there might be those who don’t fancy it as much because they probably have other interests. Uniqueness and diversity keep the balance and pops up our childlike enthusiasm when we meet new people and experience fresh concepts. Maybe it comes down to opportunity and definitely many more because two different people might act differently to the same set of data. Having a library while growing up was definitely an advantage and either helped shape who I am or better equipped me to deal with life my own way. At the age of ten, pouring through stories and starting to understand the world.

At about same age, having to turn up at school and hope the teacher allows me my recreation time instead of having to teach some classmates struggling with how to read. I wasn’t the only one with such duty but anytime I settle into it, the interactions made me feel something more. Words people stumble at, not looking at the whole sentence but picking the words one by one which can be disjointed, not able to articulate and answer questions from an essay — I found the impact of books totally remarkable. Indeed, it makes sense that every kid be presented with opportunity. While we are placing ice cream and toys and video games before them, it is also important for them to understand there is a beautiful culture of reading and a whole marvelous realization when they explore more. For those who don’t keep journals or in times when we want to take a peek at our improvements in the past, maybe a month month, quarterly, or in a year, we can checkout for the impulses that made us buy a book. And the ones that made us not to. When it was, how and where, how it made us feel afterwards because definitely hardly does a good book leave one the same.