Books Are a Girl's (& a Boy's) Best Friend

It all started with books. Even before I could read, I was said to have endured long enough to not understand the book, to leaf through the pages of The Little Prince with fascination and calm. I don’t remember it, but the truth is that this book certainly helped to guide my later steps.

Books have always been a part of my life like good friends. As a child, I looked forward to every visit to the local library, which represented a realm of unlimited possibilities for me, and from where I always left with a supply of new stories.

I loved the magical feeling that all I had to do was open a new book and in a few moments I was transported to another world.

Whether it was the winter months, summer holidays or weekends, one of the activities I loved to spend time in was in the company of books.

When I later started traveling, wherever I went, at least one book always went with me. On my first visit to Ischia, where I originally arrived for a week with an open ticket and an oversized suitcase, the owner of the apartment I rented, who came to pick me up at the port, asked me, while she was helping me put my luggage in her car, if I had any gold bars in my suitcase? They weren’t exactly gold bars, which were responsible for the excess weight of my suitcase, they were books, but they were just as valuable to me.

Sure, I could travel light, with a packed library crammed into a small rectangle, like a lot of people do. But… For me, that lacks a lot of what a real book can conjure up. My e-library only reads one book. It only took one attempt to replace real, but heavy, books with their intangible versions to realize that even if the real ones weight something and take up too much space, I won’t give them up.

But isn’t that how it is in life with everything that’s worth it? Real things simply cost more effort.

My partner, when we met, didn’t share my love of books. In fact, he didn’t read at all. That is, if I don’t count the sports supplement of the newspaper, informing about the status of football matches and some articles on the Internet. My first Christmas present was the book Seagull by Richard Bach. Another slim book and just as full of wisdom as The Little Prince. It didn’t happen overnight, but slowly curiosity began to awaken in him too. The love for football began to fade and books began to quietly take its place.

Today, our shared library, which is constantly growing, offers a lot of “gold” in the form of stories, inspiration, entertainment and much more for both of us. Not a day goes by that we wouldn't open a book and read at least a few pages. We don’t have a TV and now in winter, the evenings are really long even here on the island. We often spend them, together with the cat snuggled in front of the gas stove, which creates a light version of heat in the room, on the sofa, in blankets, and with books. It's not cliché at all. Nor boring. It's very nice actually.

I wish that everyone would dedicate at least a little time to themselves every day (or often) for this ritual, which benefits the body and soul, and also the quality of time spent alone and with others. Because even though it is tempting to take a phone or a tablet that beckons with its unlimited possibilities, unlike the "limitations" of a real book, I can say that the good old saying "less is more" applies here too.

And there is no better time to start than right now. Especially since it's winter and Christmas is approaching!

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