My First Love

I love books, bookstores, and libraries!  I know I'm not alone.  Some of us fall in love with books as kids, and it's a life-long love affair.  I spent summers reading book after book after book.  I remember parents constantly asking me to pick up my books and take them to my room.  But I knew I'd be reading it again in ten minutes, so what was the point of picking it up?!

My love affair with books continued until some point in college.  It was still there when I started college.  The first class my sister and I attended was Dr. Ausband's Literature 201, a survey of old Brit lit.  At the end of the first week, he asked us to stay after class.  I'd never been asked to stay after class before, and my barely 18-year-old self was pretty nervous that the head of the English department was requesting such an audience.  My nerves quickly melted away as he asked, "Where did you two go to high school?  Where did you study your freshmen year of college?  I've never had such prepared students."  

Well, we went to PHS, where Kay Meredith trained us well.  This was our freshmen year; thanks to Mrs. Meredith's AP class, we already had credit for freshmen English I and II.  We told Dr. Ausband of our intentions to major in English.  He smiled and asked, "Why?"

"Because we love reading."

By my junior year in college, I'd read so much my love of reading was waning.  My roommate used to say that if she read as much as I did, her eyeballs would fall out of her head and roll down the hallway in our apartment.  

By the time I graduated, I couldn't bear the thought of reading a book.

A year later I started grad school in the form of seminary.  It was time to read a lot again, and it was a struggle.

I had a baby the day after I graduated seminary, so reading was not an option for a while.

Then, when that baby was a little over two-years-old, I had the space, energy, and time to start reading again.  It was great.  And I was very pregnant.  I enjoyed a couple months of reading before starting the sleep-deprived cycle of parenthood all over again. 

Now, that second baby is two-and-a-half, and there is time to read again.  And I love it again.  

I feel a little guilty; I should challenge myself more with what I read.  I once read a Shakespeare play a week and hefty Victorian novels in a couple of weeks.  Now, I read words and sentence structures and ideas that are easy to comprehend, much to my husband's dismay.  He also loves to read, but for him reading is an exercise of the mind; for me it's a luxury for the mind.

Here's some of what I've read in the last year.
 


What books do you recommend?

BTW, a couple times I've attempted a women's summer book club.  I've loved the gatherings, but they've been small and sporadic.  If anybody wants to partner to try it again this year, then let me know.


Comments

  1. I miss reading SO MUCH! Now that I'm chasing Isaiah (and then working while he sleeps) I don't find time for reading much more than blog posts on my phone while trapped under a sleeping baby. I'm glad to see a Barbara Kingsolver book in your pile. Love her!! I also find myself reading fluffier books these days just to get my fix. I need to make it a priority again.

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