Books that murmur

Heather Cass White

Readers like to have books around because they continue to murmur after they have been read; they are living extensions of our minds into a space not wholly ours.

Heather Cass White, Books Promiscuously Read

Let's examine that sentence phrase by phrase.

Readers like to have books around ...

This is not true of all readers. Many readers happily return books, even books they love, to the library. Or they give them to a friend or give them away. Heather Cass White seems to be writing about a different kind of reader, my kind of reader. These readers are the sort who can identify with the next phrase.

... because they continue to murmur after they have been read ...

Can books murmur? I think so, although it has more to do with memory than sound. The best books stick with us, just like the best movies do. We remember something about them — a character, a passage, a feeling. The fact that such books are still around in our homes can trigger these murmurs whenever we see them.

... they are living extensions of our minds ...

Books that murmur, in a sense, are still living, in a sense. Their ideas have become our ideas, even if our own minds have reshaped them into something different than what the authors intended.

... into a space not wholly ours.

White goes on to compare books to children's toys. She uses the psychology term "transitional objects." Children use toys to create imaginary worlds, not wholly theirs. Books work similarly for those who can read. They can take us on a raft with Huck and Jim or into a courtroom with Scout and Jem. Any book that's any good takes us somewhere.