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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Channeling your inner teenager ... Police Reports ... Ticket Availability ... Channeling your inner teenager ... Police Reports ... Ticket Availability ... MOCHA MUSINGS For the love of books Comment By Susanne Severeid DailyTidings.com By Susanne Severeid Posted Feb. 10, 2015 at 7:30 PM Updated Feb 10, 2015 at 7:31 PM By Susanne Severeid Posted Feb. 10, 2015 at 7:30 PM Updated Feb 10, 2015 at 7:31 PM » Social News Hardcover book in hand (which, today, happens to be "The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap" by Matt Taibbi, bestselling author and a contributing editor for Rolling Stone), I sit down with my mocha. Boy, do I need a shot of caffeine this morning. “What’s that?” a male voice asks out of the blue. I look up, wondering if he’s taken issue with the title or something. The voice belongs to a man sitting to my right, laptop open across his jeans-clad knees. Close-cropped salt and pepper beard, short hair. Smiling, he pulls out his right ear bud and points to the table. “What’s that? A book?” “Yeah,” I say, laughing. “A book.” “I never see anyone with a book anymore,” he says, only half-joking. I explain that I never bring electronics when I come here; that it’s my time to just read or write without all that. Then, I go home and work on my laptop like the rest of the world. “That’s cool,” he says. “I mean, to give yourself that kind of space here.” He sticks the bud back in his ear and returns to his laptop, our conversation over. I settle back and start scribbling some notes. I like books. Real books. I like the tactile feel of it in my hands as I turn the page. I like the smell. I like shaking out the pages of a newspaper. I totally “get” the ease of tablets and downloading books, and I don’t want to add so much as one extra ounce to my carry-on, but I still love having a copy of Vanity Fair or a paperback or the New York Times at the airport or on the plane that I can lazily leaf through. And I have bookmarks that I use all the time, too. One is Renoir’s "Dance at Bougival," another shows Anne Frank writing in her journal. One has a quote from Walt Whitman’s "Song of The Open Road": “Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.” Or Virginia Woolf from "A Room of One’s Own": “No need to hurry, no need to sparkle, no need to be anybody but oneself.” There’s one bookmark I love with colorful swirls that my son made when he was in first grade, one from our trip to Yellowstone, and a black and white photo of Audrey Hepburn from "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" that I shove between the pages. Sometimes, I’ll just use a cocktail napkin, or a library receipt so I remember to return the book on time. They mark the place where I’ve stopped reading, and where I will begin again. They remind me of things I like, of people I admire, of places I have been. I move them from place to place, just as they move my mind from page to page. I love books because I can reach for them, visit them, when I want to. They’re like old friends who educate and refresh me, comfort and embolden me. They may sit for years on a shelf with a bookmark denoting a favorite page, to perhaps be stumbled across by chance on a rainy day. And then I say, "Ah, it’s so nice to see you again." But, now, the clock says it’s time to go. So, I close the cover of my book, finish my mocha, and head out the door, having fully savored this fraction of time with my friend. Award-winning author, TV presenter and world traveler Susanne Severeid is an Ashland resident who enjoys making time for the important things in life — including mocha. For more, go to www.susannesevereid.com. Email her at [email protected].   By Susanne Severeid DailyTidings.com By Susanne Severeid Posted Feb. 10, 2015 at 7:30 PM Updated Feb 10, 2015 at 7:31 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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