...Pass it on!

Last week I was gifted with some books. Anyone who knows me will recognise the excitement of this – I love books! They came from someone who had finished with them, and decided rather than to just gather on a shelf, she passed them on.

One of them has already been added to my “pass it on” pile – a collection of books that have been read, enjoyed, and are ready to make a new home.

Passing along books provides so many benefits. Aside from the obvious ones of saving money and environmental concerns, there is a social benefit to this practice. It gives me opportunity to discover people with similar tastes. It leads to conversations about books (the good, the bad, and the weird!). It provides the chance to try out a new author or genre, or to revisit one long abandoned.

It also reinforces the nature of community. Especially at a time when we are in the process of re-discovering and re-building what it means to be community (from the pre-COVID realities that we were ready to be done with, to the end-of-COVID aspects we want to retain, to the post-COVID dreams that we have yet to realise) – especially now, we can seek for a common ground, we can strengthen existing bonds, we can establish new patterns and explore new opportunities.

What a tremendous gift a book can bring – the story within the pages, and the story of the journey.