Ahhhh, to find that cozy spot to cuddle up with a new book! It is such a delight to drift into the scenes the words vividly paint. A nook, a private space where you can sniff out the wonders and feel bound to know the rest of the story!  Holding a book in your hand while gently turning the pages, then pausing … at a pace of leisure this is one weakness I thoroughly indulge. It is indeed an ancient pleasure, like enjoying a piece of chocolate.  “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands.” Isaiah 49:16 In the Alley home on Rose Street we had an old fashioned library filled with all the Nancy Drew tales, and a rusty paged edition of The Whitehouse Cookbook. Have you found an old manuscript with ‘aha’ notes written in it’s margins? Have you considered the person who had to scribble such revelations? Books are a passion of the past, present and of the future.  The wisdom of the ages is recorded, as history reveals astounding adventures, with facts that arrest the minds of drifters and sifters of all words about the odd, the mysterious and the truth.  Authors circle the globe composing literature to engage imagination, to inform, and to thrill. They document what matters in order to share their views with a unique pen that gives us a privileged peek into a world that you may have never traveled.  Paintings and photos of wooded libraries are cherished haunts and preferred destinations of a diverse culture of book hounds.  Do you find yourself seeking to spend time at the local library just to be in the presence of an immense stockade of books?  On your vacations are you fascinated by the history of your destination in museums and libraries?  Today readers simply skim for facts, while the avid bookworm prefers….

dawdling, lingering, flipping pages, indulging, savoring…thinking and remembering the time a true tale enraptured their very soul. So many books to choose from – so many pages to read — so many authors to delight in….admitting that I am nothing but a worm who crawls slowly across the pages seeking sustenance. Respectfully we hold the book while pondering its words. Words do indeed invigorate souls. Remember ever holding an engraved book with gold leafed pages?  Didn’t that leather binding give it’s content a most rare quality?  Books of prose and poetry are still repeatedly absorbed and memorized in this day by thoughtful gents and ladies.

We are never alone with a book

Imagination expanded

It remains a place of God’s great favor…to linger in His book without the distraction of radio, television or of the internet’s noisy blasts of doom and world news.  In my youth, in the relaxed era of 1950’s…..

our family lived in the San Joaquin Valley.  Within our 14 room mansion, our family of five enjoyed four fireplaces and a giant front porch.  The most cozy room in the house was the library. Warmed by the fire, we snuggled up in a comfy old chairs and traveled by our imaginations across the world.  Huge window boxes hung outside the library windows which overlooked a small, but lovely rose garden.

Our family library bursted with shelving that reached from floor to ceiling on both sides of the chimney in full blaze.  The serene view of our rose garden and the sound of a crackling fire kept us stilled as we entered the world of our book of choice.  Builders rarely construct new homes with libraries anymore. In the 50’s our dad was an insurance agent for State Farm and the living room was converted into his office.  The winding staircase separated the living area from the library. Papa would bring his clients into the library for coffee and a game of chess in front of that fireplace. This posting is to honor the warm memories of days spent organizing various collections of used books into the Dewey system with my sister Mary.  Momma Mia loved all of Agatha Christie, while my sis enjoyed the “Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck.  Today I treasure the time I have to luxuriate in the living Words that lie between the covers of my Bible.  Reflecting on what God has to say to me within each passage from Genesis to Revelations.  Climb into your favorite nook with Zero WIFI and totally unplug from the world … it’s exactly what we all need at times! We don’t need more, we need less.  Remembering my childhood library, the nook that got me hooked to books at 33 W. Rose.

Imagine Huckleberry Finn reading Tom Sawyer in this delightful nook….

Can you envision honest Abe Lincoln’s reading in this nook?

A reading nook in the Sierra Nevada perhaps joining John Muir here.

Sherlock Holmes may have chosen this nook as an escape? The power of the Word still transforms people all across the globe!

Our home with a picture of me and my sister sitting in front of the Christmas tree,

in the library on Rose Street.

Purchase a quick read on Amazon

and find out Who lives “Behind the Curtain”

https://www.amazon.com/Barbara-Alley-Hoyle/e/B07S7YJ8NF?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060