Bookworm

A chance encounter one day in the life of Benjamin P Bookworm the 59th

Allow me to introduce myself – I am Benjamin P Bookworm the 59th and I am quite famous. Games have been named after me and people who spend a lot of time with their noses in books are known as bookworms. This is really quite flattering to me as I spend my whole life in books and it is comforting to have my talents recognised.

I come from a long line of bookaholics, all of whom were voracious devourers of books. Some think I am related to the silverfish, but no – my pedigree has nothing to do with those commoners. My scientific name, Trogium pulsatorium, is far more impressive than Lepisma saccharina and rolls much more regally off the tongue. My ancestry dates back to the Permian period, 295–248 million years ago; but enough of my distinguished lineage – you want to know how I spend my days, don’t you? Well I suppose I could spare some of my valuable time to satisfy your curiosity, but then, loveable and cute as I am, you probably won’t invite me to take up residence in your home. Such a pity – if you have lots of fine old books, you and I could get along quite well. Once I settled in, you would never see me.

I love books – absolutely devour them in fact. I am actually just a tiny little critter less than 1 mm long, and that means I can sneak into places where you would never find me. I only get discovered when nosey people find a book or two that I have been enjoying, and then they try to kill me! How could they? I would never do that to them, but I digress – you want to know how I spend my time.

Because I am a cut above the commonality of a silverfish (which will eat anything), I prefer to spend my time in libraries and other important places – the ones of my choice being those containing original editions and works that don’t get moved around too often. Once I am engrossed in a book, I don’t like to be disturbed. I like the dimness of old books as the light distresses my eyes which are rather weak, being so tiny, but I found this wonderful pair of spectacles which some very obliging person left behind one day. I have them adapted to fit somewhat and I think they make me look much more distinguished actually, although they are a tad cumbersome.

With so many books to choose from I tend to move from one to another, sampling bits of each until I find one I really like and then I spend some time enjoying it before moving on to another tasty story. I tried Moby Dick the other day but found it quite hard going and a bit stodgy in places as the pages were much thicker than I liked. You have found me today in a relatively modern release which I am quite enjoying, but I have had enough of it and am about to move on. I don’t think it really agrees with me after all. Over there in the corner of the shelf is a lovely big set of leather bound encyclopaedia Britannica with fine gilt edged pages. They are very old books and nobody uses them anymore. There is much I don’t know yet, so I will be moving over there and I might even find a picture or two of my ancestors. There is much knowledge there to be digested. Those books look very nice with their leather bindings, fine pages and my favourite, old glue. If somebody with hands not quite spotless has handled them sometime, then I will find plenty to enjoy as there will be some lovely old fine mould there for me. I am unlikely to be interrupted there, because I have noticed that most people use those electronic contraptions on the desks to look at pictures and then another contraption spits out paper with the pictures and words on it and away the people go. I tried the paper that they take away, but it was not to my taste, so I left it for the silverfish and went back to the books.

I lead a very interesting life here in the library but I must get on as there is much more knowledge that I still need to digest before I pass on and allow my descendants to take over.