writers_muses #4.6 ~ Book And Candle Picture

There is still something to be said for reading old books by the flickering light of a candle, Darius thought, as he pulled one of his favorites down and sat down to open it’s pages. It allowed the words to almost take on a life of their own, adding to the illusion that the writer must have hoped to create of worlds never seen, and times that had come and gone. The golden warmth spilled across the page, and made it seem almost like a visit with an old friend.

He had tried reading by electric lamp on a few occasions, but it seemed to make the pages and the words that were written on them harsher in some way. It was true, he mused, that the words were much easier to read in the glaring light. However it had always seemed to detract from the story itself, and he had never been able to really immerse himself the way he had been able to previously. Eventually, he had given up on the idea and simply gone back to what had always worked so well for him before.

Darius smiled softly to himself as he turned to the page he had left on the night before, his fingers almost lovingly caressing the leather bound book in his hands. Perhaps it was simply that he was trapped in the past, but it still seemed to him that sometimes the old ways were still the best ones.