--{ heaven }------
This is heaven. I am in a bookstore in Glasgow. I have a journal in which I can write every now and then. I am taking small sips of an aranciata. I have some new books, books I have never seen in the States.
The fact that this is my personal heaven explains why I do not make a big deal out of travel. Because, in the end, it is text that excites me, not the visuals of sites, or the sound and smell of another land. Don't get me wrong -- I like those too. Just not as much.
It is not even the seeing of the print, although I like that too. It is the ingestion of it, which is somehow ultravisual. Books on tape, for instance, work almost as well for me, though they generally go slower, and have the added interference of voices. (But paper has the added interference of text.) But even with books on tape, I can see the words in my head, so I do not mind. "See" is not the right word, of course. I mean perceive, comprehend, intake.
This is heaven, I reiterate.
The details I am not so particular about. The country. The bookstore (though it must have a certain concentration of good books.) The beverage -- coffee, tea, citrusy soda -- all work equally well. The music. The people. They all change the situation, but it is the core of the experience that is heaven to me.
If I could read other languages, every country would possess such a heaven, would be just as compelling. But I am language-bound to English speaking (I mean reading) lands. Or lands with enough translations available to keep me sustained.
You can see then why I am learning Japanese.
The bookstores in Glasgow are better than Edinburgh. I judge so many cities by their bookstores.
I like how they recommend different books in different cities, even though the cities are all English-speaking. It must be more than localization that generates the appeal, though I'm not really sure what it is.
"Andrew," at Waterstone's, seems to have recommended some fine books, ones that I have never heard of. This pleases me.
I have new books, recommended by someone with overlapping tastes (Calvino, Ben Marcus, Cortazar). This, as I have said, is heaven.
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