Mending books in the library, the best part of my life

it was more than ninety years since I went to primary school. The third grade should be in 1994. I remember one year when the Chinese class was still a Chinese exam, there was a question with such a sentence, which said: Xiao Ming is helping the teacher repair books in the library.

now every time I think of this sentence, I still feel the best part of it. That was awesome.

Don't think wrong, I was not in the library what happened to the teacher. Who would get the wrong idea? no, no, no. (it's just that I did do the job. I did the work of mending books, and then I saw the sentence, "you're talking about me," so I still remember the question 20 years later. In short, mending books was one of the most profound events of my childhood, and it may also have something to do with today's obsessive-compulsive disorder.

at that time, there was a library in my primary school, which was not open to students at all. Of course, there are books, comic books, science books, textbooks, storybooks, novels, and adult periodicals (if you have heard of "after dinner"), all of which are donated by others, so the quality is very poor, especially secondhand. Then one day, the male teacher in the library came to me-according to him later, it was a complete coincidence. He didn't have any "feeling that the child should be very careful" in it. CNM, has no white lies, pure coincidence. So I took the job.

however, this job is fastidious, mending books, if it is now, you may get "books still need to be mended?" The answer. But at that time, there was a shortage of resources, and people cherished books. "cherish", uh-huh, but not all "cherish", so you need someone to repair it. As a necessary stock of a pretentious library, it is a very formal and important job.

the teacher in the library is a part-time librarian and is a class teacher in the fourth grade. Was he in his twenties at that time? Maybe he is in his thirties. I can't tell the difference, and I haven't asked. A gentle teacher, a gentle teacher, as soon as he does something, he begins to become an eccentric teacher. At first, I had no idea what he wanted me to do or how to do it. Instead of explaining to me "what to do and how to do it", he described to me in great detail the "effect" he wanted to achieve. Then I seemed to understand it all of a sudden. As it turns out, this is not a coincidence at all. Although I (still) do not seem to be a very careful child, he found me, is the fate of our lives.

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he wants us to turn these dilapidated books into old and unbroken books. Why is it broken or old? you can see from it.

Let's do it together. At first, I learned from him, then he went his own way, and in the end, he even came to copy my idea.

1. Paste cracked pages with transparent glue (which was a relatively expensive office supply at that time). And in order not to have a wound on the back, it should be pasted on both sides. The extra part can not be cut with scissors, because if it is not cut properly (really, you can never cut it), it will be covered with dust later, so you just fold it over and stick it on the back. By the same token, do the same on the back.

2. Many books have holes in their covers. The picture below is the most recent book. The grinding hole of the book in the 1990s is even more exaggerated. In this case, take a small piece of white paper (cut into a small square for the beauty of the back), fill it with a watercolor pen closest to the cover color, then stick it on the back like a hollowed-out effect, and seal the front and rear with transparent glue. At that time, the quality of transparent glue was very good. Although you do have a patch, if the transparent glue is neatly pasted, it is not annoying at all. The following picture is not very good.

3. The covers of some books are made of paper that is different from that of the inner pages. This often makes the cover thinner and softer than the page, making it more vulnerable to fatal injury. This is something I couldn't understand at that time. Such a book should be pasted 360 degrees without dead angle with a wide transparent glue. It can be horizontal or vertical, and it can be covered with it.

the seams of two pieces of adhesive tape are the most exquisite, like ceramic tiles. There are bumps and bumps when they coincide. If they are too far away, they will not only be ugly but also stick to dust again. If it is not near or far away, it is best to have a perfect connection like a chocolate brick. After the cover of transparent glue has been pasted on both sides, it is a little strange to turn it over for a while, and it may even get out of shape. But after the test of time, they will become very flat and comfortable.

4. Correction fluid and correction paper. The graffiti, handwriting, and scratches in the book cannot be erased.

at that time, my teacher and I had a consensus that using an eraser would wipe off the flesh of the paper-although if it was rubbed well, it could indeed achieve the purpose of cleaning. However, with correction liquid coating, with correction paper paste, there is no loss of anybody.

although the color can be strange, it highlights the will to "fix". When I think about it, we were idiots, too. But it makes sense. Reasonable idiot.

Today's students should not know what the correction paper is. The correction paper is a pure white sticker, and then it is cut into square pieces, each piece and the manuscript paper (the manuscript paper is still in use today. ) the small box size is the same, write the composition to write the wrong words, directly posted, a grid will be restored, although a little white.

I use correction fluid and correction paper to cover the handwriting on page one by one, and use it alternately according to the stain. The teacher said it was like shaving Dubai and dog skin ointment. I gave 100 and 70 respectively for these two metaphors. Sometimes I encounter handwriting and draw it to the text of the book-then I stick it right and then draw the covered words on it myself. This is not beautiful at all, it can only be regarded as obsessive-compulsive disorder and self-centeredness. I'm happy. I'm happy.

5. The covers of some books are completely broken, or even half of them are missing, and it is impossible to save them with transparent glue at all. In this case, take a relatively hard piece of cardboard (that is, the cushion board we used when we were young. The picture below is made casually with magazine paper in recent years), which is harder than the page and softer than the paper shell, according to the size of the cover + spine + back cover. Compare it, cut it, and glue it all together. It's a bit like wrapping a book cover, but it doesn't have any edges to fold, but it goes up according to the size, just like an extra page, like a new coat. Then rewrite the title and author on the spine. The words are written by the teacher, of course.

6. No book cover. Another common understanding between us is that it is stupid to wrap a book cover. The wrapped book has extra weight, and it also affects the feel of flipping through it. Or the way we stick to the skin makes people (both of us) happy.

7. Hard handle the edges and corners. To keep the corners of the book flat forever, transparent glue is of no use unless it is a soft book. At this time, you need to cut it into triangles with cardboard and stick it on the back of the cover of the book. The thickness of the cardboard should be carefully considered, and different covers should be made of different textures. Of course, after it is pasted, it should be sealed with transparent glue. Transparent glue is too important.

8. Plastic sealing, is more difficult, the first is the difficult process, the need for hands-on ability. Second, there was a serious lack of cellophane at that time, and the heat source was not easy to master, so candles could not be used all the time. In my memory, we have only dealt with it like this a dozen times, and the books are all very powerful ones that I can't understand.

at first, I worked for him once a week, all on Tuesday afternoons. My home is very close to the school. You can come at any time. Then there were irregular changes in time and frequency. Sometimes I left late after school, sometimes I didn't have a rest on Sundays, and sometimes I took it home to do it. I have never been to his house. It is said that he has an unpleasant wife. It's a good thing I've never seen it once in my life.

two years, we fixed it. How much, hundreds? At that time, there were not many thick books, so a few hundred were probably conservative figures. I didn't think about it. There should be a reward. It is normal for pupils to try their best to please their teachers, and parents also miss the pursuit. Who knows if he will teach me next year (he did teach me for half a semester later) and ask for nothing in return for helping the teacher.

but I have no pressure at all because I have fallen in love with it. Mending books gives me a sense of accomplishment. Looking at the books has changed, especially-from a lot of messy, dusty, crumpled, dirty garbage to clean, neat, shiny, fragrant (probably not, but I have no words to match), that sense of achievement is too important to me, too great. This incident has changed my way of life until now.

however, the best part for me is yet to come. In the sixth grade, the teacher brought me about twenty books, all of which we repaired, but I think he fixed most of them. He argues that these books are no longer in the library (probably, I can't remember), and (this and more important) they are very good books that deserve me to read. As a thank you, I gave it all to me.

I was dying of happiness, and I cried. In the whole primary school, I was the first person to get a book from the library, not to mention the first person to read a book (I was also the first person in this primary school to get a certificate in a Chinese literacy contest, the first person to be robbed by junior high school students in the game hall after school, the person who threw the largest number of red scarves, and the first person who dared to go to the tuba in the toilet). I am so happy. I love teachers, I love mending books, I love all this.

I read about half of those books at that time, some of which I really couldn't understand and some of which I forgot. Although they are extremely precious and try their best to collect them, the ability of primary school students to keep things is really limited. After moving, after going to school, after going to other places to go to school, after going to the south to work, after going back to the north, after moving again. But today, 20 years later, I still have one, which I have read most times and most like at that time. Natsume Shushi's I am a Cat, translated by Yu Lei, Yilin Publishing House, 1994.

in retrospect, there are two thoughts left to me by this incident.

the first thing is to cherish things.

I'm not talking about hard work and austerity, but the way you treat an object. In the past, books were books, but now books seem to be just paper, consumables, and materials. I can't describe what I want to say. It is. For example, a friend recently opened the website and said he wanted to buy two books. When he said it, he seemed to say, "I'm going to order takeout at KFC" instead of "I'm going to choose a good dress for the winter."

it can also be said that it is too easy and cheap to buy books now, and there is no sense of value. There is no need to borrow at all (I am not advocating borrowing, especially in the current sanitary situation). In short, we just don't take it seriously, and if we buy it, we don't take it seriously. It's just a resource of paper nailed together. It doesn't matter if we flip it over and throw it away. There is no precious sense of collection. I hate this.

the second is about the conceptual difference between "broken" and "old".

We always say "shabby", but broken and old are two completely different concepts. I think the books that we have mended by hand are no longer broken. Of course, time will make them more fragile, more yellowing, more deteriorating, and dustier. But none of them are wrinkled, cracked, disabled, or deformed. They are just old, like many people who look sexy, energetic, neat, and mature even though they are old. The old is a kind of classical beauty. To keep old things from breaking is to try our best to save classical beauty.

however, patching is not over with me.

after junior high school, I began to fall in love with music. in the era of buying tapes, I had the habit of using postcard plastic bags to cover the tape, and only a few post offices sold that. Sometimes, I also like to use transparent glue to paste with full coverage without dead corners. The behavior of universities starting to buy CDs has also become more serious. After graduation, CD declined, but the second-hand discs, punch discs, and junk discs on the Internet began to become cheaper and cheaper, which made me revive the soul of mending books-- I bought a few yuan each to see this disk, unsealed disk, second-hand disk, large variety wholesale disk, open. Start with the following steps:

1. Deal with CD boxes. If the box is not cracked or damaged, take it apart and brush it carefully with washing. If it is seriously damaged, you have no choice but to buy a brand-new box online and replace it directly.

2. Deal with the disc itself. Wipe the paint with a wet towel and read the surface with a glasses cloth. Some people are very concerned about CD scratches, but in fact, scratches rarely affect disk reading and oxidation.

3. Deal with the lyrics. This one is very obsessive-compulsive. I will prepare wet towels and paper towels, one page at a time, front and back, wiping every place with a wet towel without a dead corner, and then quickly drying it with drawing paper. Sometimes when the timing is not good, the lyrics are soft and wrinkled. It won't help if you press it with a thick book. But I think OK. My things, I think it's good to be clean.

4. If it's a CD, with a carton jacket, -- fully covered with film. Transparent glue is my favorite.

5. Buy it in a self-sealed bag and pack it in a bag.

when combined in this way, the original dilapidated second-hand discs are just old ones, and they may not look old. After all, they are two different things from books. Neat, clean, got a second life in my hand. Even if they are given to others later, they will still get a second start in my hands to avoid the fate of mildew and abandonment. I enjoy the idea, very much.

I probably met my teacher in 2013. He grabbed me in the street and scared me to open my mouth for a long time. At first, the two of them were still pretending to be polite, shaking hands and nodding, and when I finally couldn't help it. Especially when he said, "remember what happened when I was a child?" my tears flowed without any hindrance, as smooth as a nosebleed. I hugged him in the street and cried hard, even though there was a friend beside him (actually his son). He wanted to cry, too, but he didn't cry. He's got it under control, and I'm a little satisfied with it.

he is still him, the teacher of my library and my boss. He looks full of classical beauty. Hale is and hearty, charming, smells like a sexy uncle, though not very old. Now he's some kind of headmaster, something like that.

left his phone number and made an appointment to go to his house to read and have dinner. I ate it once, but outside. He's divorced. We talked about a lot of things, all about mending books, of course. I told him about me now. We talked as if we were our peers, without any estrangement. Later, we agreed to "do more when we are free", and we looked forward to it. However, the matter of "when you are free" is always sad and terrible. He is not insincere, and I am not just lazy. But time just flew by, and it was several years.

I suddenly received a text message from my teacher this year, asking me to add his Wechat with the same number. He also said: come on.

I cried again.

crying should also be a hangover of that.

Old man, are you going to renovate, too? As I added, I thought of the first sentence and said so.