I have spent the last couple of days in Sweden with a hacker who’s cyber name is Wasp. Last week I visited a pig farm in England. About 10 days ago I was in Downtown Chicago. And a month or so ago I was in Alaska. I bet you think I’m just racking up the frequent flyer miles. You’ll never guess how many I’ve earned on these trips… 0. That’s right…zero. You see, while my mind was in Alaska, Chicago, England, and Sweden in actuality I was right here, home, in Philly engrossed in a book.
I’ve always loved reading. Reading gives you the ability to be wherever you want to be. It engages the mind and stretches the imagination. Reading has been as natural for me as breathing. I don’t think about it I just do it. I do not even remember learning to read, it’s like I’ve always been able to do it. When a friend suggested I add reading to my list of things to do to decrease my idle time and increase my Joy I was not surprised at all. As a matter of fact I was in total agreement.
I have always turned to books for fun and as a way to escape and even find new friends that are relatable. The first books I remember reading were Chippy Goes to the Dentist and Tiggy Goes to the Hospital. Chippy and Tiggy were the same age as me and their adventures were both exciting and a little scary but they survived the dentist and doctor just as I had. When I got a little older I must admit that I cared about my friends Ramona (of Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Series) and Margaret (of Judy Bloom’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret) just as much as I cared about the little girls I played with and talked to in real life.
As an adult my favorite books still have main characters that I can relate to. However books have now helped me develop real friendships. Joining a book club is one of the best decisions I’ve made as an adult. I have met some really smart and interesting women. We all come from different backgrounds and that leads to different perspectives on the books. Book club turns reading from a solo activity to one that enhances the social life and has lead me to many new friendships. (Shout out to Juniper Street Book Club)
In addition to reading’s ability to take you to another place with words and give you a social outlet in the form of book club, there are many other benefits to reading. Reading expands your vocabulary, improves your spelling, expands your imagination, helps improve the mind and memory, enlightens you to different cultures and ways of thinking, improves concentration and focus, gives you something to talk about and reduces boredom.
So while reading is nothing new to me my perspective on it has been broadened. I now see each book as a new literary guide towards joy.
Love books, I can name most of those books you were referring. I know Sweden has to be The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. *lol*
I was a big fan of Judy Bloom and my favorite books growing up were Superfudge and Sheila the Great.
I love books and reading. I was not quick to it as a child though. Family issues. But I do remember the fist book I truly enjoyed and that was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. That was my first real flight into a book and the imaginary world it can create.
As a young adult my appetite for books grew ferociously. Now my books are my babies. I rarely go anywhere without at least one.
Thank you for sharing your love of books.
Peace
Okay, I totally fell for the hacker from Sweden! I was thinking, how exciting. Lol.
Reading has always been a favorite pastime for me. I get engrossed in the characters, can hear how their voices sound, what they look like as they're moving or doing things…..
It's a wonderful world to escape to.
I always loved to read, I have read so many books, some I have even repeated them because of the awesome writing styles of certain authors. Growing up I especially loved to read Enid Blyton Books, there was also an African Collection called Pacesetters, which were really good and written by various Africa authors. Nowadays I read a variety of styles, ranging from Romance, Motivational to Crime. I just love to read.
Thanks anonymous!!! I also read the Berenstein Bears as a kid. I used to watch the Anne of Green Gables TV series on PBS as a kid but I did not know it was a book. I am on http://www.goodreads.com. Bookclub friends should find me on there.
Loved this blog entry! Mostly b/c i totally relate to everything you said. I've loved reading for as long as i can remember. Reading allowed me, even as a child, to see life from a perspective so different than mine and to open up my imagination in ways I never could have accomplished alone.
I remember entering the world of Winnie the Pooh, The Berenstein Bears, and many other books as a small child. In grade school i was obsessed with a book series called The Secrets of the Unicorn Queen – I still have all the books in the series just in case I have a daughter to pass them down to one day 🙂 My Dad would take me to the book store THE DAY that the next book would release and I just LOVED him so much for knowing how important it was to me.
Then I remeber my Mom and I reading the Anne of Green Gables book series together – oh, Anne Shirley, i just loved her and still do. Her story is one of an amazingly different child, girl, then woman who felt so confident in her own skin…even though she was just a bit different than everyone else.
And all the "required" reading for me throughout high school was a JOY, was fun and interesting – i mean, even now as an adult i have gone back and re-read a book like Pride and Prejudice and STILL discover new tid-bits about Elizabeth and Darcy that the author hid in the pages. I've also learned that i don't need to LOVE (or even just "get") a book just b/c it is considered a "Classic" (insert "The Great Gatsby" here).
As I got older, I missed having someone to talk about books with (it used to be my Mom or in a classroom setting), but then I joined The Juniper Street Book Club and my whole perspective changed! LOVE having a group of amazing, unique, talented women open my eyes to new perspective on reading – it is so fun and exciting to look forward to hearing and listening to real woman who share their thoughts about the written word.
If you are also interested in reading, think of joining a site like http://www.goodreads.com to keep track of your books, as well as to read other people's reviews.
In closing, I've also traveled to exotic, foreign, scary, amazing and fun places due to the written word – and I've learned that my imagination is sometimes better than the real thing!
Thanks for another excellent blog entry!!!