It has been a beautiful August. Usually we prefer June, but this year it has been August. We’d say why, but we don’t want to jinx it. Everything is dreamy and slow. We hold on to the days as they slip away and we go back to the way things were. It’s our last chance to go to the beach before we have to start back at school. Soon we won’t be able to put off big projects and meetings by saying everyone is on vacation. Some call it the dog days of summer, but we are now coming to the last gasp of hammocks and martinis and indulgent paperbacks.
We’ve got to remind you that your reading habits don’t have to change. Just because you are getting busy doesn’t mean you should take any less care of yourself. To us, books are a kind of meditation. They are solitary but never lonely. They exercise the mind but don’t tire it. Reading (excluding assignments for education or employment) is something you do only for yourself. You choose the book. You choose the time. When you sit down to read, you enter a world that only you can and will ever see, for no one can ever witness your mind’s eye: the shape of a characters face, the smell of the wind blowing through a scene. This is all you, dear reader.
And so, we encourage you to enter the upcoming season well protected against the forces that hope to destroy your sense of well-being. Build a mighty book stack as armour against the onslaught of reality.
It’s wonderful to read aspirationally. Books can and do make us better people. But today, we ask you not to buy books that you just think you should read, but rather, books you are desperate to read and indulge in. Grab that juicy biography or lurid history that’s been calling your name. Give in to the appeal of a classic horror novel or science fiction epic. Dig in to a romantic tragedy. Pry into the lives of the famous and the dead by reading their private correspondence. Pour yourself some tea, or a glass of whiskey. Curl up with your cat or your dog. Remind yourself that you are worth every moment of this indulgence. You work hard, dear reader, and the world is a challenging place to move through. No one will miss you for this half hour. It is yours.
Our job is to provide you with the book for this little bit of me time.
Much love,
Jason and Vanessa
