Reading

There is a child that lives in our home that loves to read.  She can be difficult to find when she is buried in a book, she doesn't respond when called and can spend an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom where I suspect she may be snuggled up with a good book.  I don't know for sure, but the pile of books on the windowsill might be a give-away.  And if she doesn't have a new book, no worries, she will read an old one.  

I see myself in that child of mine.  Back in the day, before there were seven kiddos that enjoyed eating at regular intervals, I would bury myself in the top of a haystack and read whatever book could be scrounged up.  

But, the past years have left me reading whatever I could read in a 10 minute window ~ magazine articles, newspapers, the back of the shampoo bottle.  They are just not quite as fulfilling as a big, fat book!

My reading child with a cake she made for her 

favorite babies, the twins.

When my little sis, Margaret, moved to town, she began talking about the classics that she enjoyed reading, "Phantom of the Opera," "Gone With the Wind," and numerous others.  My desire for reading was stoked and I made a resolution to read a book a month in 2012.  

I forgot how much I loved it and how much Shannon hated it.  He wanted dinner, but I was occupied reading, "Born to Run." Not a classic, not even a book I would recommend to many people, but it gave me something to discuss with the brother that recommended it.  "Brave New World" was not one that I would read again, but "Phantom of the Opera" was worth every minute.  "Miracle in the Andes" made me evaluate life and what can be taken from a person in the blink of an eye, but what can also be gained.  "The Help" piqued my interest in an era of American history that previously wasn't terribly appealing.  "The Long Walk" made me ponder what people are capable of and how little is demanded of us in our daily lives.  

I am a few books ahead of schedule, but that's okay, at least with me!  I try to temper myself and wait to read at night, instead of slipping a book between the pages of the math answer key.  It is rewarding to complete a book, and it spurs the old brain to work in a way that it hasn't for a while and I like that!  


Now, off to finish St. Ignatius' letters to the early Church and begin reading, "Killing Lincoln" with a short stop to read an "Oliver" book to Dom!