A Book Unread

About 30 years ago I purchased two of D.H. Lawrence's books .. Sons and Lovers and Women in Love...new from Coles...full price.
These books languished for various reasons on the shelf...usually side by side. . untouched and unread...jackets fading, glued binding getting frailer and frailer over the years, dust gathering on their edges.
I recently decided that NOW is the time to finally pick... one of these papered pieces of print to gaze at while the words of the author create his characters, drama, and scenery in the vast .somewhat empty and unused spaces of my brain.

The cover fell off almost on the first day of handling...taking with it the introduction and first page of the 1st chapter. Bits of 'spinal glue' chipped off at every caress of the hand that turned the page.

ENTER the Guttenberg Press and the Adobe Digital Reader along with a few seconds of downloading an Voila.... Women in Love is created in digital form on the lap top...available at the will of a click of a mouse, screen size and font adjustable.

The paper edition now lies untouched, pages never turned, typed print never decoded, characters never revealed on paper, the voice of the author a little more removed from the original pen and ink in which it was first recorded.. It lies alone by the bedside-- a tangible treasure never again to be part of the ritual that involves the sound of page turning, bookmarks, glasses

A Library of One's Own

  After much searching, scanning, taping, reading, video taping, downloading, and asking advice , I have finally been able to put a copy of this little story onto this blog.  It also seems to be placed somewhat weirdly on the blog page per se and my apologies for that fact, but to have this even on the page in any form has been the result of a very steep learning curve which as it turns out has not been quite steep enough.

I find it ironic that all the time and effort spent in doing so would have seemed a bit ludicrous to the author of the article, as  the goal of the whole exercise would have been totally beyond what the writer's imagination could have ever envisioned.

This short writing is found in my Grade 7 Reader...Beckoning Trails..and has stuck with me throughout (the exact number which will remain  unmentioned) several years. 

If the print is a bit difficult to read one may perhaps may have to resort to the Zoom on one's screen.

I wonder what Mary Ellen Chase would think of these.

She probably would think , 'Now that's a lot of laundry soap!'