Found in a Bookshop

by Stephanie Butland

To a book lover, a bookshop is not a place in the world, but a world in itself.

It’s the state of mind and heart of the person reading it that will make the book grow into something greater than the words printed in it.

Reading should be a pleasure and a joy, an education and a promise, a release and an escape. The books you choose for yourself should never, ever feel like a punishment or a chore.

Not all authors care about readers. Some of them write for the good of their own souls, and some of them, for all of their vivid imaginings, could never see their work being published. But for others, many others, your gaze on the page of words they have written is the manifestation of a dream.

Reading is not a test. Whether or not you love a book is not a matter for debate; and not something you can be persuaded into.

Sometimes, a book will sing to you. Sing to your soul, your pain, your being.