When reading this next chapter, the first paragraph really caught my eye. We saw a picture of the girdle book at the end of last class and it stuck with me. “Girdle Books, a popular form among pilgrims in the Middle Ages, continued to be made: with an oversized soft leather cover whose flaps could be looped under one’s belt for easy consultation on the go.” (pg.43) This is interesting to think about or imagine. I would have just put my book in a bag, carried it, or even had a kindle in replacement nowaday. The image of the girdle book stuck with me, this little sack that carried the book around seems unnecessary to me. But I guess everything we have now could be classified the same way, accessories more than necessity. Aesthetics more than need. That’s what our world is made up of, items and things that we can consume or own. This has existed forever, and it has progressively gotten worse: I am not immune to this. I love little knick knacks and collecting things I do not need. I am not sure what that says about me, but it makes me feel better that even in the Middle Ages they were doing this aesthetic with books too. The Girdle itself is like many unnecessary things I own, and it’s interesting to think of how this made books more portable than before. In my mind books had always traveled and moved with you, but I guess when I really think about it this isn’t true, they used to live in libraries of the rich. The Girdle is just another example of this aesthetic obession of the book, and with everything else we now consume, that might not be necessary.

Further in the chapter the rise and importance of Codex books also caught my eye. “As codex books became private items, rather than shared objects experienced publicly, copyists simply couldn’t keep up with demand.” (pg. 43) I keep forgetting the fact that books were something that were shared publicly and read aloud. The image of seeing people on the street reading a novel out loud is foreign to me, that would never happen now. But this is how it all started, and as the codex was created books became private, expensive, and a sign of education and status. Rather than stories being shared in pubs or public places they were being read privately in the home. This is how reading has always been for me, rather than when I was little and my parents read to me, so the fact that this was not normal is intriguing. Reading was related to wealth and status rather than community, so when I really think about it that is true still. Reading is a privilege not everyone has access to. Reading is political, as most things are, and reading is something that is meant to be shared and discussed, but usually it is not. I am really enjoying the new perspective this book is giving me on the history of books but also the history of reading as a political, wealth, or status statement of the past.