Fifteen things about books

Tamar tagged me for this meme. Couldn’t resist. So here goes:

1.) I love books. Everything about them—the smell, the look, the feel, how they line up on the shelves, how they remind me of various times and events in my life (how this or that book reminds me of that juicy time!). It’s hard for me to let go of a book that means a lot to me, one I enjoyed, that brought me that certain kind of pleasure, one that is indescribable. My favorite time to read now is lying in bed at night and read, often for hours if it is a good book. It feels so luxurious.

2.)The fondest memories of summer in my teen years are lying in a canvas hammock in the back yard under big maple trees drinking lemonade and eating saltines all day and reading reading reading. The books I read then were the Romantic novels by the Bronte sisters, Thackery, Charles Dickens. I remember my sister laughing in the next room when she heard me crying at the end of Jane Eyre. She said she had done the same. Still.

3.)I read Kazantzakis’ Zorba the Greek while nursing Tamar in the middle of the night and started calling her Bubalina. Nobody but me seemed to know why. And maybe the love of reading seeped into the milk.

4.)I very rarely do not finish a book I’ve started. It has to be pretty bad for me to put it down! Often when I’m reading a book that doesn’t measure up (for me), I edit the writing in my mind. Rewrite a sentence, change a word, a structure. But I never tell the author.

5.)I used to flip to the end and also read passages before the end before reading the full book but I have tried to train myself out of that. It isn’t fair to the writer. Now I only do it occasionally, when either the book is too upsetting and I feel I can calm down reading it if I know the ending (hoping that it has a “good” ending) or it is so bad that I wouldn’t finish it unless I knew the ending.

6.)Libraries have been a refuge some of my life (especially during school years), a place or terror at others. Too many choices, too little time to read everything. I’ve just begun to make friends again with libraries. In fact, I look forward to going there just before my dance class (it’s right across the street) every Wednesday evening.

7.)My parents had beautiful leather bound books for the living room shelves. Dickens, Thackery, Homer, Aristotle. I loved to pick them up, smell them, and read them. They made our living room special. I’ve always arranged my books on the shelves by authors (not size or date), grouping authors who write a certain type of book together, keeping a modicum of order on my shelves.

8.)I’ve always thought of myself as a slow reader. Probably because I savor every word. The few times that I have skipped a word, I find I need to go back and get it right. (It’s only respectful, after all!)

9.)I feel naked without a book to read. It’s almost a feeling of panic if there is not a book lined up to be read. I have some good reader friends and we pass books back and forth. Three of us have set up a library in Inge’s house. We have all contributed books, but I must admit, I keep my favorites home, just in case I NEED them (and sometimes I really do!).

10.)I used to read all of one author, not move on until I had exhausted their writings. But now it feels like there is so much to read, I am more extravagant, taste a smorgasbord of books.

11.)I love a good short story collection. I love a good, long, intense involved novel. I’ve never been good with mysteries or science fiction, yet I have read some (mysteries maybe) by better writers and not thought about them as a type. They were just good. When a book doesn’t come across as a particular genre, but has merit for the writing and ideas, then it doesn’t matter to me where it fits, what type it is. I guess I’m not much for light reading, though. When I feel that need, short stories do the job very well.

12.)My taste runs mostly to novels that portray some kind of understanding that enriches my life in some way. Recently, I really was enchanted by The Dive from Clausen’s Pier (which I lent to a friend and she said it renewed her faith in contemporary literature). I also loved The Kite Runner and Light on Snow. I wouldn’t change a word in any of those books.

13.)I read novels easily, and magazines sometimes, but a newspaper is beyond my grasp. Maybe it is the print being so small, but more likely it is the news itself. Having grown up during World War II (and just being who I am), newspapers are difficult for me. Maybe too it is the feeling of holding a book. It just feels so good.

14.)My parents had a great respect for reading. My mother loved the New Yorker, read it cover to cover as soon as it arrived. But I don’t remember her reading books other than cookbooks. My dad read lots of novels, often historical novels, right up until he died at 90. I can picture him at any age sitting in a comfortable chair with a book on his lap.

15.)My mother taught me to read before I learned at school. She didn’t try. It just happened. I was standing in the back of our 1937 black Plymouth sedan, in the early 1940’s, while my mother helped me figure out the words phonetically on the way home from buying the reader, a Dick and Jane book. The teacher then called my mother in and scolded her in front of me. It probably left some scars but I am not sure where they are. I know I stopped caring for that teacher, was glad when I went into the next grade.

This was great! I could keep going but now I will tag Elin, Rachel, and Jessica. Have fun kids!

Posted by leya at December 7, 2005 09:21 PM