Book
Worm
“A book
is a dream that you hold in your hands.”
Neil
Gaiman
Most of us these days
are trying to drum-up ideas for Christmas/Hanukah (Hanukah begins on Christmas day this year! Wonder how often that
happens?) I'm a great lover of books, so when I know that someone
else loves them too, I get very excited. I just learned that my young
cousin, Kaidance, who's now about 9 years old, is a non-fiction
reader. A girl after my own heart. Now, I'm excited about browsing
the kid's shelves at our local bookstore.
Edmond Wilson, whose
writing influenced the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, said, “No two
persons ever read the same book.” It's dicey business to try and
buy books for another person based on whether or not you enjoyed
them. I've done that many times, and struck out often. So it's a good
idea, if you're a book lover, to ask people what they want—be
specific. I asked for Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Series for my last
birthday and received them—all four books! Well over a thousand
pages. At first, I was daunted by the shear volume, but now, I'm
mid-way through the second book and can barely put it down to sleep
at night.
One of the problems with
belonging to a book club, at least for me, was that about half the
time, I didn't like the choice of reading material. I wanted more in
the way of non-fiction—essays, history, biographies—and no one
else did. I ended up spending money for books I just didn't enjoy
reading. Always, there were people in the group who just loved that
book! Best read ever! We all come to a book the way we come to a
stranger. We are drawn to them, or we are not; immediately
interested, or indifferent. We approach from the perspective of our
own life experience, and something unspoken, little understood,
perhaps intuitive, happens in the way of attraction, just as it
happens between people. I think that is because every book written,
at least the ones that are not formula driven, has been a soul
journey for the author. They have poured their days, usually years,
into writing and research, devoted themselves to the words as they
would to an intimate relationship. Writing a book is a gift of love;
it requires passion that verges on obsession. Reading such a book
puts you squarely in the middle of that passion. You feel it, you're
involved; you care about the characters as you would good friends.
I think reading is
magical. The very best thing we can do for our children is to
encourage them to read by feeding that appetite for story that they
naturally have. A good book is a great way to engage a curious mind,
and that is a gift that lasts a lifetime.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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