by Pat Landaker

It may surprise you to know my love of books has nothing to do with the story inside, but more to do with the artistry of the book overall.

Just the fact that you can create something that, in such a compact manner, is able to open up to the size of a Broadway stage and provide a visual through words so alive and present that the reader sits center stage, right in the action, in control of its delivery through the turn of each page until the last when the stage darkens and the story ends. This is what's amazing about a book.

It's the simple fact that a book's cover can tell a story just by the suggestion in its artwork, the style of its font and the word choice and placement of its title-a book cover that does its job by creating a visual so engaging it's open to interpretation or so solid it persuades the reader to believe the message-and that based on either, the reader makes an instant and unequivocal decision to read the book. It's the brilliance of a cover that delivers on its message, visually and verbally.

Then, it's the conceptualization of the book. It's the making of the book. It's the organizing of the book. It's the storytelling in the book. It's the telling and teaching through visual messages and the words that have been hand picked to accompany the reader on the journey. It's the revealing and sharing. It's the catalyst and the catharsis. It's the ebbing and tiding. It's the beginning and ending.

Finally, it's the power of the book. The power it has to influence its reader's thought, mood, viewpoint, decision-making, opinion, focus, engagement, direction, religion, likes and dislikes, choices and on and on...

It's the architecture of all of the above that creates the Art of the Book. And this is what I love about books.

Read more writings at www.pochettebooks.com and pochettebooks.blogspot.com, or email contact@pochettebooks.com