You Lil Dickens

I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie

Hi, I’m Eleanor and I’m a Bibliomaniac.

From the Greek, biblio (book) and mania (madness or frenzy), a bibliophile is a lover of books. As writers, many of us do.

Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

I became a little bookworm at a young age. If you flip through a picture album you would routinely see a book in my hands or someone reading one to me. The presence of books was the same with music. I have been surrounded by books and music my entire life.

Someone asked me recently how many books I owned to which I responded, “You know, I just stopped counting after 800.” Seriously. Movers are always shocked. Books were a means of escape during my less than desirable childhood. Writing and singing music were ways I could express my feelings. Escape and Express: Oh, how precious these two abilities came to be to me. Later, it became something more, I began to see how much I truly loved writing and I knew from a young age that I wanted “to grow up so I could write books.”

What do books and writing mean to you? Where and when did you all discover your passions?

Eleanor Lorene Lowe
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23 responses to “I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie”

  1. Timothy Price Avatar
    Timothy Price

    I’ll have to address this one tonight when I have some time.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Eleanor Lorene Lowe Avatar
      Eleanor Lorene Lowe

      HEHEHE

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  2. mic Avatar
    mic

    👌👌👌✒My world of books has shrunk to textbooks and biographies of interesting people (I certainly wouldn’t buy a biography of any European politician). I loved travelogues and Dostoevsky. His books weren’t for one night.🌹🌞😘

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    1. Eleanor Lorene Lowe Avatar
      Eleanor Lorene Lowe

      Hey Mic, I think that’s awesome. Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. Appreciate you!

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      1. mic Avatar
        mic

        🌹

        Liked by 1 person

  3. What Words May Come Avatar
    What Words May Come

    Very cool! My wife is the book-aholic reader… Me? Not so much! I prefer to write and move on! ;-))) That being said… I have an audiobook going everyday, so, there’s that! ;-)))

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    1. Eleanor Lorene Lowe Avatar
      Eleanor Lorene Lowe

      Hey What Words May Come, thanks for reading and taking the time to leave a comment. Appreciate you. Enjoy your audiobook! 😉

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      1. What Words May Come Avatar
        What Words May Come

        My pleasure! ;-)))

        Liked by 1 person

  4. utahan15 Avatar
    utahan15

    it has to cook for me to remember or finish the book i read six or seven at a time and well you know i am the master of chaos. ee lowe. so now you know. des moines is the dream . fork in the road. toad

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    1. Eleanor Lorene Lowe Avatar
      Eleanor Lorene Lowe

      What do you like to read?

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      1. utahan15 Avatar
        utahan15

        mostly fiction, historical, murder mysteries

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Eleanor Lorene Lowe Avatar
        Eleanor Lorene Lowe

        Same here, actually. Great minds think alike 😉

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      3. utahan15 Avatar
        utahan15

        oh and of course, murder mysteries. like wasatch egg place 45minutes and only coffee. now i have to write up a review.. yes we do my dear.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Timothy Price Avatar
    Timothy Price

    My uncle was visiting years ago and said he only knew of one person who had more books than we did. He said that was a doctor. I didn’t think we really had that many books, although we had hundreds of books. A lot of years have passed and our book collection has become much smaller. There was a point that we decided we needed the wall space, and shelves for other things, and we had a grand give away of the books we decided we didn’t need anymore. We still have a lot of books (probably a couple hundred): the books we reference a lot, reread now and then, signed copies, Folio books, special and rare books. For awhile we were getting a lot of Kindle books (our Kindle libraries are quite large), but when they got to be the price of paperbacks, and triple the price of good used books, I went back to buying real books. I also found Kindle books are difficult when doing research. Laurie is reading books on her iPad because she can dictate notes and comments in the pages, which turn like a real book, something she can’t do with her Kindle.

    I’ve been doing more research for papers lately, so my novel reading has been much less. I have several books by other bloggers I need to read. I do quite a bit of writing. I’ve tried doing stories with characters, but all my characters are one-dimensional and they end up seeming the same to me. I’m really impressed how people can develop characters because I can’t seem to.

    Here’s an interesting tidbit for you. I’ve presented three papers at conferences about how natives of north-central New Mexico have a unique way of speaking and vocabulary, and that I’m a part of that way of speaking. I guess you can say that for any regional dialect. Grammarly gives me a weekly progress report, and no matter how many words I write, the reports show around 1/3 of the words I use are unique, and that I consistently use 95% or more unique words than other Grammarly users. Which supports my thesis to some extent. For example, last week Grammarly reported that it checked 9,656 words I wrote, that I used 3,387 unique words, and it noted: “You used more unique words than 97% of Grammarly users.” I’m not sure how I come up with so many unique words, but the stats are interesting. Although, it bugs the hell out of me that they are tracking everything I write in a browser.

    You are a lover of Latin, I believe you mentioned in a recent post? Do you have a “Book of Beasts”? I have a facsimile of one that is beautiful and the descriptions of the animals are fascinating. Have you heard of the book “Saga Minds”? It’s an interesting take on the Icelandic Sagas by a Russian written during the Cold War years. The book is extremely rare in English. Most of them are in university libraries. I found a copy that I was able to purchase. Like Little Jack Horner: What a good boy am I?

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    1. Eleanor Lorene Lowe Avatar
      Eleanor Lorene Lowe

      Boy, you are a bibliomaniac, aren’t you? And a really really BIG Nerd, I’m one of the officers in the club. Hehehe 😉
      You and I have the same pet peeve, I hate how everything is tracked, it makes me annoyed and slightly paranoid. It is a nice stat to have but I guess we have to pay the piper somehow.

      Yes, I am a amans de latin. I don’t personally own a copy myself but I have read it. I found it amusing and amazing but then again look who you’re talking to. I wish I had my own copy I’d properly go down to the local binding store to get it bound. I’ll have to check out Saga Minds, I think I heard it mentioned in passing but never had the pleasure of reading it. Of course, you have a copy of that as well. we should start a sort of Pen Pal Book Club. Kind of makes me think of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Have you read or perhaps watched it on Netflix?

      You certainly are the epitome of Little Jack Horner. I always liked Little Lulu, she was my favorite, followed closely by Betty Boop. An older gentleman, a definite baby boomer, sweet as could be was leaving the restaurant I stood up to move my chair out of the way since it was rather crowded. He just stopped and looked at me dazed and then to my date, said, “Son, you’re dating Betty Boop! Congratulations, my boy!” Patting him on the back and laughing. It was hilarious, course wearing a full skirt polka dot dress probably didn’t help. Technically, Horner was a nursery rhyme. Who was your favorite cartoon, I’m curious?!

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      1. Timothy Price Avatar
        Timothy Price

        We have a rose named Betty Boop. She’s a lovely rose. I love all the Loony Tunes. I’m partial to old Fog Horn Leg Horn: https://wp.me/p1yQyy-1K8. I loved fighting with our roosters when I was a kid. Bugs Bunny is hilarious, and I really appreciate the sophistication of the Loony Tunes humor as an adult. I also like Ren and Stimpy (good old mucous humor).

        The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society looks like a really fun book. I don’t have Netflix. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a movie. With my adult ADHD 5 minute clips on YouTube is about all I have patience for these days. Speaking of YupTube, did you see that video of Tiny Dancer I posted in a comment a few days ago? I thought it was perfect for you post.

        Bibliomanic Nerd power!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Eleanor Lorene Lowe Avatar
        Eleanor Lorene Lowe

        Nerd Power unite! BAHAHA! You’ve got great taste in cartoons!

        That book is great. You’d like the story, I think. Believe it is based on a true story. I’ve been kinda out of it lately, I missed it.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Michele Lee Avatar
    Michele Lee

    As a child, I always had my head in a book too, Eleanor, and I love my home library, which is full! So, if I do allow myself to buy a new book, I donate one to a little library in the community. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Eleanor Lorene Lowe Avatar
      Eleanor Lorene Lowe

      Great minds think alike 😉 I like your ritual, just might take it up myself. Buy one, donate one. Thank you for the idea, Michele! 😉

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      1. Michele Lee Avatar
        Michele Lee

        Absolutely! My shelves are full, but I can’t resist buying more books. 😁 You are welcome, Eleanor.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. thereluctantpoet Avatar
    thereluctantpoet

    Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.

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  8. SirPeterJames.com Avatar
    SirPeterJames.com

    Well since you asked…I don’t read by the author, rather by subject matter and over the years my tastes have changed often. As a very young man being groomed for the priesthood (a Latin student too), I voraciously consumed classic works. At the age of 15, I ‘fell in love’ with a young lady and departed from my vows. I then began to live a wild life and read only works that were nonfiction technical to aid my career. On becoming a pilot I started my first ‘collection’ of books. It was a huge accumulation (many hundreds – I cannot recall how many.) These were mostly fiction and a small collection of non-fiction technical, to aid my flying skills. My favorite was “The Little Prince.” written by Antoine de Saint Exupery. Then I became interested in spirituality, gave my collection to a group that was training young pilots. Sold my home, car, business and took up a rucksack, hitting the road as a missionary teacher. Eighteen years later, I left the missionary training base I had founded and turned back to commerce. As spirituality was by now deeply etched in my heart I turned to books in that area focussing on the philosophy of Eckhart Tolle, and many others. Today I devour anything on Irish history, especially the sea and lighthouses. I delight in these, but only keep a few in circulation before donating to our village library. This is because my backpack stands behind the couch warning me to travel light.

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    1. Eleanor Lorene Lowe Avatar
      Eleanor Lorene Lowe

      Wow, it is a honor to get this extra special glimpse into your life! Truly. Melts my heart. XOXO, Eleanor

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