To Read

I love books.

I love the feeling of sweet despair when I walk into a library and know I will never--never--be able to read all those books.

I love buying a new book and hearing the soft crack of its spine when it's fully opened the first time, and the whisper-crisp fap-fap-fap of its pages first being thumbed through.

I love getting a used book and opening it to the whiff of musty shelves.

I love the unique crackle of a library book covered in that library plastic, and the smudges of hundreds, thousands of fingers who held it first.

I just really, really love books.

One of my more treasured possessions is a spiral-bound journal I keep on my Important Stuff Shelf. The journal is divided into two sections: the first is "Books I Have Read", the second is "Books To Read." As a combined list-maker and book-lover, I get a real thrill when I can write down a newly-read title in its appropriate section. I've been known to slog through an unpleasant volume for the sheer satisfation of writing it down at the end.

But a question pops its head up every so often, and I'd really love your input. Does listening to a book on CD count? Yes, I've absorbed the plot, I've learned the characters, I've visualized the setting, just as if you'd read it....but still, I haven't read it. As handy as an invention as book-listening may be, I think in my heart of hearts I can't actually welcome a title into the hallowed hall of my book journal unless my eyes were more involved than my ears.

What do you think?

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