I love books. I love reading. I read for pleasure, to gain knowledge, to learn history, for other perspectives, to increase my imagination, to help prevent cognitive decline.
Reading has significantly expanded my vocabulary and improved my writing skill. Reading has enriched my life and taken me, physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, to places I’ve never been or even dreamed of going.
Over the years, I’ve found all of these quotes about books to be true for me.
Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. – Charles W. Eliot
I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book. – Groucho Marx
Reading one book is like eating one potato chip. – Diane Duane
That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet. – Jhumpa Lahiri
Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers. – President Harry Truman
The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries. – Rene Descartes
If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. – Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary. – Jim Rohn
Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators. – Stephen Fry
In the middle of my kindergarten year we moved to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Manitowoc was a town of about 32,000 people, and as it turned out, there was a tiny branch library only about 4 blocks walking distance from our house. In 1960 a first grader could walk to and from the library, by herself, whenever she wanted.
I don’t recall how I came to love books or reading or that library so much, but I did love all of those things. I remember summer reading contests, and how the library staff encouraged and celebrated kids who were enamored with reading. That library was heaven on earth for a cerebral kid like me. I don’t think I ever needed a safe haven, but if I had, that tiny brick building was it.
When I was in the fourth grade we moved to the other side of town, far, far away from my beloved library. As fate would have it, the librarian of that little library now lived across the street from our new house. She continued to nurture my reading addiction, now even better for me because she and I had a special, personal relationship outside the library.
When I was in the seventh grade, a beautiful new, huge, library opened in our town. It was about two miles from where we lived, but in the late 1960s, two miles was nothing for a teen with a bike and a passion for knowledge and books. Even better, it was on the route from our house to the high school I attended. Many, many days I chose to walk home from school (2.4 miles according to Google today) just so I could hang out at the library.
Henry Ward Beecher once said: “Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?
When Randy and I lost our house in the tornado, I owned, literally, thousands of books. The insurance company paid me $14,000 to replace them. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. By that time though (2003), the internet was available to look up information about anything and everything in the universe. I tried (really, I did try) not to collect so many books again. We only had to replace about four floor-to-ceiling bookcases to hold my new treasures. Now, after moving to Florida, there’s just two 5-foot high bookcases with sagging shelves. Most of the books I still own are those I’ve been saving to read (or re-read) in retirement. My goal is to read and then donate them for others to enjoy.
I still love books, but I don’t like moving, dusting and finding places to keep them in this down-sizing stage of our life. Our new town has a great library with access to books and e-books from anywhere in the state. There’s a marvelous used bookstore that sells paperbacks, regardless of age or condition, for $1.50, hard cover for $2. That’s like renting, and I’m happy to read them and donate them right back. It’s a great win-win. Further, a lot of places we frequent (American Legion, Homeowner Association Community Center, etc.) have shelves of books to take one, leave one.
I keep track of books and the number of pages I’ve read in an Excel spreadsheet. It includes name, author, genre, pages, date I finished the book, and comments. The log is interesting and helpful, especially because I love authors who write series books. I make notes of continuing characters and their lives, or often need to look up non-fiction books to recommend.
I know a lot of people who don’t read. I simply can’t imagine not being a reader. As some folks have opined:
A book is a device to ignite the imagination. – Alan Bennett
A book is a dream that you hold in your hand. – Neil Gaiman
Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life. – Jesse Lee Bennett
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… the man who never reads lives only one. – George R.R. Martin
And finally, author Stephen King (who, incidentally, I DON’T read) said – Books are a uniquely portable magic. Portable magic. Don’t you just love that? Who doesn’t want magic (wonderful and exciting, not necessarily supernatural) you can take anywhere in your life?
READ!
P.S. In the past several years Randy is reading a lot more than he used to. Don’t tell him I said so, but our conversations are much more interesting than when all he did was watch TV. So I guess I can also claim that reading has helped improve our marriage, too.
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