Old book space

The largest commercial center in Thanh Hoa City is lined with shops and stores that are always crowded. Promotional events are often held here, attracting a large number of people to participate.

I am allergic to crowded activities like that, so even though I pass by that area every day, I rarely pay attention. Until one time, while waiting for an appointment, I walked on the sidewalk in front of Vincom Shopping Center and was drawn into an old book fair.

Old books, like many old things, are often overlooked in the digital age of audio-visual culture, where e-books are brought to your bedside. Powerful search engines allow you to quickly access any information and read the book you want at a very low cost. So why bother going to the trouble of choosing books, especially old books at book fairs that you only get to see once in a while? I seem to be “complicit” in that thinking, like many others.

I stopped to observe, the first image that caught my attention was young people. In a place full of old books, meaning those works belonged to the past, for example, books about romantic literature, revolutionary war themes, and maybe even famous novels of Western literature from previous centuries... I always thought that the people interested in those books must be at least my generation or earlier. Young people have a lot of young books, when a team of young writers with youthful works has appeared a lot in the past ten years or so. Yet many young people go to the old book fair. Is it because of curiosity rather than real need? I thought so and tried to step in. The book tables were full of people searching. Some young people seemed unable to contain their curiosity, so they sat down on the sidewalk to read old books right at the book fair.

There are some very happy things that are returning in the noisy, pragmatic life and even the extreme, imposed thoughts on reading culture recently. Leaving the old book fair, I remember reading an article about old libraries and reading rooms in the province. Old book lovers have set up reading spaces and they have received positive responses from old book lovers.

Many people still maintain the habit of reading and collecting old books and newspapers, which can be considered a very unique cultural beauty in the midst of the "digital life". Through ups and downs, old books may no longer be intact, but they are a valuable asset, a link between the past and the present. Those who seek out old books are also those who carry the mission of revival, so that old books are no longer old and discarded as people think.

Old book fairs and old book sales spaces may not be flashy, but they are gradually becoming a destination for many people. In Thanh Hoa, there are a few people who have organized old book reading rooms. The old book fair organizers do not place much emphasis on commercial value. The work is simple, but its value is not trivial. Old books still have a certain value, so let them awaken to help life by creating more spaces for communication between readers and old books.

Happiness

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/khong-gian-sach-cu-235882.htm