My Reading Life

I love to give books as presents. I am always surprised when I learn that someone doesn’t love reading. Or, they love reading but somehow they just don’t have time to do it. How can that be? Even when I am exhausted, I need to read one or two pages in order to relax enough to fall asleep. Certainly there must have been times in my life when I simply was too tired or too busy to read-when my babies were little, for example. But to go for an extended period of time without reading…., that’s inconceivable to me.

Okay, I’m going to try to be fair here. I suppose there are people that live for extreme sports and aren’t happy when they are not skirting danger. Or hiking. Or painting. Or cooking. Or anything really. For my husband, it’s golf (He is also a converted non-reader J). I love other things, too. But reading? I can’t imagine a full life without it.

Reading is an essential part of existence. It’s every single day. Reading for pleasure is another thing entirely, I suppose. Still. When I used to teach English, there was always required reading and this was usually met with groans. In addition to required reading, I learned to give students the chance to read anything they chose. It wasn’t necessary it be a classic, (they would get those anyway) but just something they would enjoy. It worked every single time.

The Great American Book Read is a big thing on PBS at the moment. PBS developed a list of 100 books that are considered America’s favorites. It asks readers to vote for their favorite/favorites (as if that’s even possible), and it challenges people to read and share and talk about reading. It would be a wonderful thing if it encouraged even one non-reader to try it; to pick up a book.