It’s National Book Lovers Day!
This should be a national holiday .. with paid time off .. with cozy chairs and coffee/tea for anyone interested. 😀
I’ve written before of my love affair with books .. and it hearkens back to being a very young girl. Cozied up next to Mom while she read me a story, I remember the heat of her body on mine as I leaned in wide-eyed and wondering.
Mom took me for my first Library card before I started school and I still remember the joy felt filling the book bag up to the top, the weight of it necessitating a drag to the Oldsmobile. Sorting through my choices, the smells filling my senses, I lined my books up in order of priority.
I remember a similar thrill when the Book Fair came ’round each school year ~ bringing home the paper-thin order sheet and circling choices, then handing my list over for her review and approval. She always encouraged us to “read up,” and we discussed choices and our reasoning behind them. Looking back, I can see she favored intelligent choices and those fought hard for. And if you couldn’t defend it, you didn’t need it.
- Another one of her life lessons right there!
And, as I’ve grown, books remain a comfort to me ~ a place I love to belong.
A summer read takes me back to our backyard canvas tent, reading my sister’s “Valley of the Dolls” or “Love Story” before moving on to “It” or “Roots” or other intriguing plots.
A winter read can transport me back under the covers of our shared girls’ bedroom, the weight of winter blankets cocooning me into a drowsy state of relaxation.
It’s National Book Lovers Day ~ but I’m celebrating all year long!
“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.” ― Conversations with William Styron
- Are you celebrating National Book Lovers Day with me?
- If you’re a reader, who encouraged your love of reading?
- What recent book are you still thinking about?
- for me, it’s “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah
Like you my mom got me reading very young. We got a local library when I was a preteen and it was so exciting. I could barely carry the books home. I always borrowed too many!
Weren’t we the lucky ones? Our library was in the next town over, not our little Hamlet. Mom encouraged reading up to all levels, and she made reading the paper fun. She would read crazy headlines outloud long before the Talk Show hosts did. “Soup that was drunk from the bowl!” and she’d laugh (English Teacher).
Like you, I always borrowed to the maximum (6) and sometimes, if no one was around, our Librarian would let me take 2 more .. just because. So scandalous!
I’ll quote Mom here, “if you have a book, you can go anywhere, and you’re never alone .. unless you want to be.”
MJ
Yes, to all!
Yeah!! Diving into an assortment of books this weekend ~ I. Can. Hardly. Wait!
**You might be an introvert if the one thing you look forward to about a work conference is skipping off to read quietly in your hotel room 😀
Cheers! MJ
Oh, I agree with THAT!
Still reading (and thinking about) Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. It is chilling. Happy reading to you!
Ooh I will investigate it .. thank you Amanda! ~ MJ