A Book that Drew Me in.

   My artifact is novel written by Maha Harada called “Canvas of Paradise”. This is the second Canvas of Paradise book I have bought! Its story about a painting by Henri Rousseau called "The Dream". The edges of this book are bent, because this book has been read a lot.  It consists of 440 pages and is an art mystery in genre. The size of book is like a postcard. You don't need to have any knowledge of paintings to enjoy this work.

 I have loved reading picture books since I was in nursery school, but it was in the fourth grade that I read my first novel. The first book I read was “colorful” by Eto Mori.  At that time, I did not understand the goodness of books yet. However, reading books of various genres, I was able to realize the fun of books. My friend who has a book she loves that she could read over and over again said

"When a book draws me in, I want to read it over and over again. It's amazing how hard it is to hear the sounds around me."

 I had not been drawn into the world of books before, so I did not know what it felt like. However, I was able to know in the second year of high school. It's because I met the "Canvas of Paradise". When I started reading this book, I could not hear the surrounding sounds as if I had jumped into the sea. It was like being shut out of the information around me. I felt like I was traveling in the world of the book, and whether it was fiction or non-fiction became blurred. I came to love this feeling and read the book over and over again because I wanted to experience this feeling over and over again. Also, I never bought the same book after losing it, but when I inadvertently lost this book, I immediately fell in love with it to the point of buying a new one. I have read this book many times and have not gotten tired of it, so I think I will continue to read this book.

 Books have a negative impact on the environment. Paper books are considered more harmful to the environment than e-books. The causes of the negative environmental impact in the production of e-books are the manufacture of batteries and displays. This is because large amounts of electricity, petroleum, and other forms of energy are used. And the cause of the negative environmental impact of paper books is the amount of carbon dioxide produced in the production of paper books. Another cause is that paper books use a lot of water to manufacture them. Both of these have a negative impact on the environment, but paper books are considered better for people who do not read many books. We should develop of manufacturing books that has less of an impact on the environment. There are many benefits that come from reading books.

In addition, the publishing industry has been severely affected by the publishing slump caused by the fact that magazines are no longer selling due to the spread of the Internet. Other factors are also contributing to the decline in print. The publishing recession has halved the number of bookstores from more than 20,000 in the 1990s to 10,000 in 2018. In this situation, there is a movement to protect the change of books in small local bookstores. My solution to moving away from bookstores is to add an experience that you can't get online. For example, setting up a café or hotel, or holding a workshop to create POP for display in the store. I hope to solve the problems of books and reading through such solutions.