Books as a comfort blanket

I am reading a book on auras by Ted Andrews and it has made me think about the reasons for my strong feelings about reading 'real' physical books as opposed to reading them on a tablet. I have always loved the feel of paper, the imagery from the illustrations, the physical object that I can keep and refer to whenever I wish. But it isn't just that.
According to Ted, auras leave an imprint on the objects they come in contact with. I have experienced this myself on a regular basis so I agree with him. The thing about books is that the longer we have them, even without reading them, the more of our own energy they absorb, providing us not just with an object we can refer to but, more importantly, with another source of positive energy. If you have ever picked up a book that you read as a child, or any book that has belonged to you for a long time, you probably felt a strong sense of comfort, joy or another positive feeling.
One of my weird hobbies is collecting Billy bookcases from Ikea. When I say collecting I don't mean stacking them around - I just seem to acquire so many books so fast that I need more and more bookcases to store them. I know some people dread putting furniture together but every time I get a new Billy and have an opportunity to put my new books in their lovely new homes I get the same feeling as kids do when they hug their comfort toy or blanket.
Of course, tablets have their uses but I think I'll stick with my paper comfort blankets instead.

Ruth Padel's The Mara Crossing - a review

'...Mara comes from Latin and means ‘bitter’. Mara, or ‘mer’, appear in many languages and often mean something horrifying, like Buddhist’s Mara, the demon of illusion and death, or even the root of the Russian word smjertj, meaning ‘death’. Padel came to associate this dark meaning with the crossing she witnessed at the river Mara inKenya where thousands of wildebeests crossed the river as they do every year. Hundreds of them were eaten on the spot by crocodiles but the rest survived and got to the other side, only to take the journey back in a few months...'
Read the rest of my review on Bookmunch.

The Whores' Asylum by Katy Darby

...'Darby’s impeccable style is at the same time Victorian and current, which creates a strange but enjoyable impression of being transported back in time as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She is one of those authors that the reader would be curious to meet, even if it is just to see whether she does speak like that in real life...'

My review of a fascinating gothic novel The Whores' Asylum by Katy Darby is on Bookmunch.