I love to read.
Not everyone in our culture does. And the numbers that don't may be increasing. I don't understand the mind set of someone who doesn't read for pleasure, but there are a lot of them. Some of them very educated, intelligent people.
Since I tilted this book lovers, my best guess would be that this would get substantially less page views than other Ripping Good Yarn posts that I have published. But you never know. These things fool me sometimes.
It's not always easy to find time to read, what with work and taking care of home and/or children, with the many distractions that our society offers. But I do my best to fight all that, and try to carve out at least some reading time each and every day. I would love to start in the morning and read some big ol' book from cover to cover, even if it took all day and all night. But those opportunities are becoming rarer and rarer.
I love being around books. I love being in libraries and bookstores. I love picking out things to read. I have tons of books at home, but over the course of the years I have given away or traded many, many more.
I obtain books well in advance of actually reading them. When I acquire a book, I put it on a list of books to read. I have well over a hundred books on that list. They include old science fiction magazines, graphic novels, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, general fiction, history, politics, religious works and much more. I pick out ten books to schedule to read. I use a deck of cards and randomly run down the list based on the cards I draw out. This creates an element of surprise as to what might be next, and keeps my reading incredibly varied.
I just finished The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, a great mystery with scientific/supernatural elements to it. They use recurring characters that are well-detailed and interesting. At their best, like this book and the classic Relic, they can be very compelling and involving reads, like a roller coaster ride. At their worst, as in Cemetery Dance, they can be mildly politically preachy (center-right) and come across like a Scooby mystery. The next book I read to replace that will be The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, which I have not read since childhood.
I am also reading A House of Hope by John Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker, discussing the development and future of progressive religion in the United States. I am also reading Flash Chronicles Vol. 3 which has the adventures of the Barry Allen Flash in chronological order. The current volume covers stories first published in 1961. I also just finished The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, a novel set in Northern Africa in the twenties, and is one I drew from a list of 100 great American novels.
So the best you might gather from this eclectic assortment is that I do indeed love to read, and for those who like such things, I want to make reading a central component of ripping good Yarns.
I also want to note that there is a quality bookstore here in Waycross! Read Me Again Books at 506 Elizabeth near KD's is a great place to find the perfect book at a great price. The owner, Judy Kurrasch, is friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful. It is also a place you can trade in your other books and receive store credit. I have had so many books ahead of me to read that I haven't been there in awhile, but I intend to correct that. Please check it out if you live in the area.
So here's to good reading!
Sad but True UPDATE: Read Me Again Bookstore closed at the end of December. It is unlikely that this area will ever get another bookstore again. That may not bother some people. It bothers me a great deal.
I am reading different books now, and have read many since this was originally posted. They currently include Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis, about an evangelist/con man....At the North Pole by Jules Verne, in an 1874 edition.....Wonder Woman New 52 Vol. 1.....The Parasite by Ramsey Campbell...and The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
Keep on reading!
I always wondered what your method was to choosing your next book. Suspenseful 'til the end! HA!
ReplyDeleteI too have always loved books. In elementary school when I was bored with the lesson, or finished it before the class, I had a book on my lap to pass the time--sometimes, that got me in trouble. Until I discovered the computer, that was how I filled in all the gaps in the day. I grew up with a public library I could walk to, and generally went every other day because children could only check out 4 books at a time. I don't read quite that much any more, and I don't buy many books. Owning them is not that important and I also tend to share and lose track of who has what. One of my favorite all-time books is "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Green. It is the singular book I have read repetitively; it's like visiting old friends. I once had two copies and now I have none. Currently I'm reading "Lone Wolf" by Jody Picoult. She is one of those writers that thoroughly researches her subjects so I learn a lot even though it's fiction. This book is, as the title implies, about wolves, or at least a man who lived with wolves, and his family dynamics. A previous book, "House Rules" was about autism. I also like "Junk food" reading, which is the James Patterson school of writing although some writers are way better--Michael Connelly and Greg Iles for 2 examples.
ReplyDeleteThank you both for commenting! I have enjoyed both Jodi Picoult and Greg Isles. I have a Michael Connelly book in my stack to read - his number just ain't come up yet!
ReplyDeleteFrom 1975 to 1982 my family lived in Plains GA. This time of my youth is cherished because I got to live as a child should get to live. There are so many memories I look back on and hold to with such joy and only two or three that I count as bad memories. One of the many fond and wonderful memories I have about Plains GA is the Book Mobile.... this was a large Bus-like Van that would ride around Plains to people’s houses (somewhat like an ice cream truck, which incidently, we did NOT have). The Book Mobile was a part of the library service. You had a library card and this is how you could check out books without your pregnant mom having to drag her 4 young children to the library.
ReplyDeleteOh! The days the Book Mobile would come ‘round! I don’t even remember my siblings on the bus browsing but I know they must have been... the Book Mobile would park under the very large oak tree near our mailbox and I would run thru the green lawn in front our house and search for the perfect book that I could read... “Where the Wild Things Are” and other such treasures would inevitably find themselves clutched in my skinny little arms. I can see the inside of that vehicle just as clear as day now... see the images of books upon books in front of me and even almost feel the excitement of getting to pick out a book “of my own” or well, at least for the next week till Book Mobile time returned and I would trade up.
But as with all things... the experience with the Book Mobile came to an end. We moved in Dec of 1982 and I never got to see another Book Mobile again. I hardly got the chance to read any more either due to the lifestyle I was introduced to... there were some series of books I would share with my sister here and there... but for the most part, sitting and reading was impossible. A few years ago, a dear friend gave me his old Ipod with a book loaded on it.... and that reunited me with “reading” .. I know a lot of people shake their heads and say its not the same... and I realize it isn’t quite the same... but.... which is worse?... absorbing a book via someone else’s voice and inflection while I go about mindless chores of a working mom and wife? Or not getting any exposure to books at all? :)