In an era when the furor is loud over AI, sometimes it’s wonderful to sit back under the glow of a reading lamp and crack open the paperbacks you’ve been collecting. You do collect books, don’t you? Please tell me you’re a dear friend, even if it’s all a lie.
Years ago, my cousin, who happens to be a mountain man who wears a long beard and rides a banana-seat bicycle, showed me his enormous book collection. From this collection, he gave me an old version of my favorite book, Gulliver’s Travels. This Swift tome is right up there with Don Quixote de la Mancha, of which I also own a collectible version.
My cousin began collecting print books of every variety from thrift stores, garage sales, and used bookstores many years ago because he believed Amazon and digital books were going to wipe out old originals and create a new method of censorship. This was long before the threat of AI. I haven’t seen my cousin since right before I moved to Roswell and hope he still has his giant book collection.
There is nothing about digital media and social media that can compare to buying a physical book from a bookseller, especially if that bookseller is the author. Here are some of the books I purchased this summer:
Three of these are by local authors. The first, New Mexico Monsters by John LeMay, is a delightful book that has an index you can use to look up specific monsters or areas of New Mexico where you might want to discover them. It’s a very useful tool for me, as you can imagine. I’m enjoying it. The author has written a number of other works of nonfiction, as well as some westerns inspired by local folklore. I mostly read mysteries these days, but I used to love westerns and will probably buy his other books. Now is a good time to support – not just print books – but local authors. How appropriate is it that his name sounds similar to L’Amour?
The next treasure is My Invisible Friends by Marisalena Manchego. I don’t know that she’s written other books. This particular little volume is a spiritual memoir. I used to read widely from that genre, too. I’m thankful I’ve been collecting works again from my old loves: histories, memoirs, westerns, and off-the-wall supernatural and speculative books.
In many ways, this summer I feel as if I’m returning to myself after being away on a long trip.
Putting aside that digression, I also picked up a book of poetry written by Ann Applegarth, Layers of Beauty. This is special because I now occupy Ann’s position as Catholic church secretary. There were two part-time secretaries before me, Peggy and Ann. Peggy still sits in the office for me when I have appointments or take a vacation. In fact, Peggy is partly responsible for my ability to finish both Delivering Hope and Delivering 2nd Chances because, along with a couple of other ladies, she sat in for me when I took writing staycations.
Ann is a bit older and doesn’t get out much any longer. However, I have spoken to her over the phone and via email at the office and am thrilled to own a work that she must have published right after she stopped working in the office.
Apropos to the book title, there are other layers to synchronicity between myself and Ann. For example, she used to live in Oregon, just as I did, and attended UNM later, just as I did. She also spent some years freelance editing and, of course, was a secretary for many years.
In conclusion, (because I must end this post at some point), the legacy of wordsmithing and book enjoyment must go forward. I’m not a luddite. I continue reading many books on my Kindle, but there is an incomparable satisfaction to cramming a stack of books under your pillow at night instead of a cellphone with a Kindle app.
By the way, you should buy my book in print or Kindle. You decide. If you live in Roswell, I’ll scribble something sentimental or sweet inside for you, like…
…This book will make your heart swell, but in a good way. Bendiciones, Jill Domschot.
Jill Domschot 