Books

I love to read.  I love books.  I am not one to read  a lot of very heavy, classic books.  I have read a lot, but lately I tend to use reading as an escape from the day-to-day.  I love mysteries, family sagas, “chick lit”-Oprah book club stuff.  I don’t need to depress myself even more by reading the more serious literature.  I already know that the world is a mess, and that people do horrible things to each other.

I read a lot, and I read fast.  I finished 3 books last weekend.  I guess it is like the saying about Chinese food-  You can eat a lot, but then you feel hungry again in an hour. 

One of my favorite books, though, is Exodus.  That is a serious story line, but I like it because it followed families through the terrible times.  I like Grapes of Wrath for a similar reason.  Many of my favorites I read in high school or college.  They remain favorites.  Of Mice and Men, , Chocolat, Five Quarters of the Orange.  All are favorites. 

I rarely read books more than once.  My daughter reads her favorites over and over.  My husband is not a reader, but he loves movies.  He can see his favorite movies over and over.  I really don’t enjoy seeing movies, even favorites, more than once, certainly not three times!

My mother and my sisters also love to read.  My mother-in-law also was a reader. She loved the classics, as does my daughter.  My daughter-in-law also reads a lot, and my oldest granddaughter seems to have the reading gene, as well.  The younger granddaughter is too young to tell, but she loves her picture board books at 9 months of age!

What makes someone a reader, and others not?  Over the years, I have tried to figure that out. My husband struggles to read.  It seems as though he reads word by word, or even letter by letter at times.  He gets worn out by the struggle. I read in big chunks-phrases, or sentences at a time.  I can hear the words in my head as I read.  Does that mean that it comes from having someone who read aloud to me when I was young?  My husband is also left handed.  He is likely dyslexic, as I have discussed with him many times.  He is not sure, but doesn’t disagree.

One of my sisters is left handed, and so is my oldest granddaughter.  My husband’s mother read aloud to him when he was young.  So, how does all of this fit?  I work with kids a lot.  Many, if not most of them cannot write in cursive, and cannot sign their names-they can only print.  What will be the future for these kids? 

Most of the kids I know also can text faster than they can read or write.  They can do so blind-in a pocket, or under a table.  They can text while doing something else at the same time, and still do relatively well at both tasks.  Their spelling skills are in the texting style.  Their reading is limited to vampire love stories and witches, unless you count the textings they receive.

This rant comes from a post I read on another blog, which talked about books.  I read this week about Kindle and ebooks and the fact that those companies will be keeping records or what their customers are reading-and even what they have considered reading.  The world of books will be very different when my granddaughters are my age……..I hope that they still read and enjoy books.  What a loss if they do not.

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