COMMENTARY: “Sometimes we love books for completely inexplicable reasons — the same way we fall in love with people,” writes hhharlow. “There’s no explaining it. We just do.”
Post-it notes answering the question, “What’s a book you love with all your heart,” in the window of the author’s bookstore. Beverly, MA. 2023 As I contemplated, post-Christmas, how to decorate the windows of the bookstore I own, this is the question I began to repeat to myself. I had settled on Valentine’s Day as a motif, not because I particularly like Valentine’s Day — I really don’t — but it’s secular and with its hearts and red palette, easy to choose decorations.
Book lovers can never pick just one, but that’s what I wanted: one book per post-it, one post-it per customer. The idea was to fill our front windows with the books people love, putting all of those exclamations of undying love on display. Of course, people found it awfully hard to choose. Customers will stand at the counter thoughtfully for minutes on end before telling me they’ll have to email the answer. When I tweeted the question, many people listed two or three or 10.
Because I’ve realized that part of what goes into making this declaration of undying love is the fact that it will be read by others. Would people choose different books if they were merely writing the answer in their diaries? When you post your most beloved book on Twitter or in our store’s window, you are signaling to others who you are, and that can be scary.
Sometimes we love books for completely inexplicable reasons — the same way we fall in love with people. There’s no explaining it. We just do. All books, like people, have flaws, but one of the great joys in life is discovering those books — and people — we love in spite of, or even because of, those flaws.
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