The information age, which has rapidly burst into everyday life, has made all paper books, without exception, literary monuments in a matter of years. The fact that they would sooner or later have to turn from sources of knowledge used in everyday life into a burden that takes up a lot of space could have been guessed even at the dawn of universal informatization, when the first articles appeared in the press that boggled the imagination with stories about a laser compact disk that could accommodate several hundred paper volumes to its surface. Alas, the theoretical calculations then, though admired, seemed very abstract and more relevant for some distant future.
In a much more immediate future, laser disks themselves have become obsolete and unnecessary storage media, replaced by even more compact flash cards and micro-SD memory cards, the creators of which, apparently, are desperately seeking to record all the information accumulated by mankind on needle eye. There is no doubt that these miracles of technology will soon turn into museum exhibits, and they will be replaced by something even smaller and larger in capacity.
Against this background, books still remaining at home, standing in rows on bulky shelves hanging on the walls, occupying several floors in a sideboard, sometimes simply stored in boxes due to lack of space, cause more and more discontent and bewilderment. On the one hand, it is simply a pity to turn them into waste paper, since a lot of money was spent on them, and sometimes it was necessary to sign up as one of those wishing to become the happy owners of some three-volume Dumas book or a series of adventure novels. Naturally, it is very difficult to decide to turn over to waste paper and touching memories associated with each of the books read, the images, thoughts and feelings generated by them.
Today, when most of the works printed in them, you can, if not download for free on the world wide web or read right there, then certainly buy in the "book" online store in electronic form and read on the computer screen, still standing on the shelves and lying in boxes, "paper bricks" can cause bouts of irritation even in spite of all the touching emotions that at one time generated. That is why, no matter how difficult it is to decide on this, it still makes sense to finally arrange a "revision" in your home library and, having chosen completely old and yellowing copies, still hand them over to a recycling center.
The regret for the lost paper friends of childhood and adolescence will soon be replaced by unexpected joy from how much free space has appeared in the room. By filling it with souvenirs, postcards, photographs that are usually also gathering dust in boxes, you can redesign the living space, give it even greater spiritual value, turn it into a source of new images, thoughts, and memories.
Today, when even brightly designed new books smelling of fresh printing ink, patiently waiting for buyers at the ruins or in specialized stores, have to enter into difficult competition with their electronic counterparts distributed on the world wide web, and sometimes completely free of charge, the question of the need to keep old collections at home stories and poems published in the 1970s, if not much earlier, seem rather strange.
“Of course, they need to be recycled, and as soon as possible, in order to make room for new books or some eye-pleasing souvenirs,” a man in the street will say and will undoubtedly be right. Moreover, old books that have accumulated dust and absorbed dampness for decades can easily become a breeding ground for fungi and a refuge for harmful microorganisms. Sometimes such books "get" and directly from the owner, inadvertently spilling tea on the pages, taking his favorite volume of poetry to the beach or using it as a stand for a teapot.
It is difficult to argue with the rational arguments that force you to get rid of old books ruthlessly and irrevocably. Sometimes it is enough to glance at their yellow pages from time to time to cast aside the last doubts and resolutely suppress sentimental memories, usually always associated with a book that, even if it has never been opened, has stood on the shelf for many years at home.
However, in those cases when the edition of the novel by Jules Verne or Leo Tolstoy, which is actually the same age as the owner, despite its considerable age, can still boast of white glossy pages, perfectly preserved hardcover and not at all faded letters and drawings, perhaps it can be spared. as well as his affection for this veteran of the home library.
Naturally, it is not at all necessary to leave it in a bookcase in a conspicuous place - it is enough to allocate a cardboard box for such well-deserved copies. And, if we manage to preserve the book “lived” for more than a dozen years, then after years an unexpected meeting with it will surely revive pleasant memories of childhood and adolescence, evoke the images of beloved heroes, acquaintance with whom at one time brought so many stormy experiences, imagining the setting and locality in which this book was read many years ago. Like the smell of a long-forgotten perfume, the old volume will instantly establish an important connection between the times for the psyche, revive the pictures of youth, unexpectedly return the faces of long-forgotten people, remind of pleasant meetings, hopes and dreams.
Even in a country with “the world's most reading metro passengers”, you can rarely find a person who regularly reads classical poetry and at least occasionally and “diagonally” glances through the works of contemporary poets. In the same subway, you can see that mass reading tastes are limited to detective stories, tabloid novels, magazines and newspapers. Very rarely there are people there who tensely follow the train of thought of 19th century prose writers, and those who read poetry and poems look quite unusual. As a rule, these are students of language institutes, but they do not always immerse themselves in rhymes of their own free will and often get to know them closer to the beginning of the examination session.
It is noteworthy that among students among young people one can find a sincere misunderstanding of how, in general, one can regularly allocate time for reading poetry. Schoolchildren and students are ready to patiently make their way through the intricacies of intrigue that are full of old French novels and stories, but at the same time they rarely pick up Byron's poems, even if they have to read his creations just because the curriculum prescribes them so.
Meanwhile, poetic culture is fraught with an abyss of images, meanings, plots, symbols and all other engines of thought and imagination, which constitute the main value of literature. That is why even a person who reads a lot and constantly, who consciously or habitually ignores the work of famous and little-known poets, in fact limits his horizons himself, deprives himself of great pleasure from presenting the pictures set out in verse, separates himself from the most powerful philosophical and artistic tradition.
It is better to expand your circle of reading with poetic works gradually, gradually increasing the number of pages mastered. It's easier to start with one or two a day, and when you get the feeling that thoughts expressed in this form are becoming clearer, you can quickly increase the volume. Within a month of such studies, there will be a desire to quickly study the heritage of all poets of the past or the century before last.
It makes sense to support this educational impulse by attending several workshops and literary evenings where contemporary poets read their recently written works. It would also be useful to buy several collections from them, which they often carry with them to such events, and ask to sign on the covers - who knows, maybe in twenty years these little books will become valuable literary monuments, which book lovers and collectors will be happy to purchase for a lot of money.
Bogomil Rainov "There is Nothing Better ...(1) 
Bogomil Rainov "There is Nothing Better ...(2) Bogomil Rainov "There is Nothing Better ...(3) Bogomil Rainov "There is Nothing Better ...(4)