This past week's discussion? Our lifelong love affair with libraries. The conversation made my heart smile. As children, we walked through a garden gate or hopped on our bikes, often with a dear friend in tow, heading toward our 'oasis in the desert,' a favorite summer destination ... whether in an air conditioned building or in a bookmobile that rolled into the local IGA parking lot once a week.
And then a few of you whispered that one of your pleasures is to seek out libraries as you travel, setting your GPS to sites unknown whether in the country or in the middle of the city ... and even aiming to visit libraries around the world.
Fascinating.
Check out our cozy chat here.
Lovely, kindred spirits we all are.
By the way, I don't know about you, but I do believe that Anne Bogel's I'd Rather Be Reading is just about the best gift ever for when you go visiting and want to leave a little something for your hostess. It's a thoughtful present for Christmas, teachers, grab-bags, birthdays, get-wells, and a must have to add to your stash of last minute gifts. {You do have one of those, don't you?!}
It was my go-to signature gift last Christmas.
You can pick up a bunch for the outrageously fabulous price of $6.73 each {at the time of posting}. It's a steal, friends ... just think, you can take care of a whole lot of Christmas shopping in one fell swoop {whatever that means.} And yes, as an Amazon Associate I earn from your qualifying purchases when you click on these links, thank you very much!
*
'It's a truism that early reading shapes the reader you become. We look back wistfully at the readers as were as children, and at the books we read on our parents' knees, the ones we read under the covers with our flashlights, the ones we giggled over with friends. Then there were the books we read in school, from kindergarten to high school and maybe beyond, under the guidance of other readers who hopefully illuminated the meaning of what we read.'
- Chapter 14, page 96
'When I find myself in a dreaded reading slump, nothing boosts me out of it faster than revisiting an old favorite. Old books, like old friends, are good for the soul. But they're not just comfort reads. No, a good book is exciting to return to, because even though I've been there before, the landscape is always changing. I notice something new each time I read a great book'.
- Chapter 17, page 119
Let's talk about your flashlight books ... and the volumes that have brought you comfort and consolation in the years since ...
Linda
*
Email, Twitter, FB, and Pinterest
Linda, what books are your flashlight reads? I hope you will share with us. Mine are S. E. Hinton books that I've reread over the last year-The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Tex, That Was Then This is Now. Think I will be rereading them again over the Christmas holidays!
ReplyDeleteMy flashlight reads? Gee, maybe Nancy Drew when I was little, Gone With The Wind and Christy when I was a teen, and definitely John Grisham as an adult!
DeleteThanks for suggesting a new-to-me author, Lynn! Will check these out {maybe literally?!}
Your posts about this book sure stir up the memories, Linda. :) I don't remember being read to or reading to anyone at home, but I had a 6th grade teacher who always read to us after the noon recess. It's still a fond memory. She was a sweet, grandmotherly type, and I can still vision her face. And it's so true that the landscape changes when we pick up a book again years later. As we grow older or work through some things, we pick up what is important to us at that stage in life. Even in the Bible, I find a verse or selection or even a word that I completely missed the depth of its meaning even though I read it many times. Love and blessings to you!
ReplyDeleteI love your shout out to that special teacher, Trudy.
DeleteAnd yes, even after reading the Bible since childhood, I continue to be amazed at the new truths that pop out on a regular basis. Switching up translations has been a big help in gleaning new insights in recent years ...
Too many under-the-cover books to list here, Linda, but one that I vividly recall, perhaps because I got caught, was one of the Dr. Doolittle volumes. I think I read them all as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI do have some re-reads as an adult, that's for sure. Favorites? The Lord of the Rings, Narnia Chronicles, and the Dancing Priest series by Glynn Young. Of course, it goes without saying that the Bible is a go-to again and again and again.
Blessings!
I haven't heard of the Dancing Priest series, Martha! Ah, my check-out-these-books pile is heading skyward ...
Delete* smile *
I read now for a simple reason,
ReplyDeleteto believe that there is light
that lies (even in cancer's season)
beyond the fall of night.
I read old authors that I love,
peruse their books with care,
for comfort like a well-worn glove,
and reading becomes a prayer.
Experience of older days,
made wiser by the years,
banishes defeat, dismays,
and dries my fear-sent tears.
Those whom I meet between the pages
are friends, even more than they are sages.
Oh, this right here, Andrew -->
Delete'I read old authors that I love,
peruse their books with care,
for comfort like a well-worn glove,
and reading becomes a prayer.
Experience of older days,
made wiser by the years,
banishes defeat, dismays,
and dries my fear-sent tears.'
Oh my. Stunning.
My Flashlight books as a child were Nancy Drew. How did parents think you could turn the light off when Nancy was ready to solve the mystery? My parents would always catch me with the flashlight and make me wait until the next day see what Nancy discovered!
ReplyDeleteWell now you have that ginormous red flashlight of Dad's to read by. It will light up the whole downstairs of your house!
Delete* hahaha *
I don't remember what I read as a child, except Little Women and some from the Little House on the Prairie series. I remember reading Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses in first grade and loving it. And we had a child's Bible stories book that had the drawings in a nice, non-cartoonish black and white. I got a similar book for my boys, only in color. Somehow I never read Nancy Drew! I didn't discover Anne of Green Gables or Narnia until adulthood. We must have had Little Golden books around, because I gravitated to the familiar ones when my kids were small.
ReplyDeleteI love rereading old, familiar books. They are like old friends, yet, as you said, you still discover new perspectives through the years. I've read several times Louisa May Alcott's books, Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, Jan Karon's Mitford books, a couple of Dickens', and several of the biographies I mentioned earlier.
Oh I do love Jan Karon's Mitford books, Barbara. I've only saved a few fictional author's books due to space and she's one of them.
DeleteAbsolutely.
We do seem to yearn for a simpler time, cozy communities, a strong sense of family, and a rich sense of humor, don't we ...
Not sure I ever re-read a book cause in my estimation, there are too many books and so little time.
ReplyDeleteI agree that I’d Rather...is a great little gift. I even have a few in mind that I might give a copy
Oh that's interesting about not re-reading because I know you have some super-favorites along the way!
DeleteI love that you're thinking about Anne's little book for a gift. Sweet!
You, too.
* smile *
This would make a lovely gift for any reader! Great idea!
ReplyDeleteAs for my flashlight reads: Redeeming Love and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are two that automatically come to mind. Although I distinctly remember another book I read not by flashlight, but by lantern.
My family was at a farmstay in upstate New York. We were in a lovely canvas tent with beds (yay!) We had no power and it had been a busy day outdoors so everyone was fast asleep. Except me. I stayed up late, oil lantern beside me as I turned page after page of The Help. It was one of my favorite reading experiences ever.
Oh, this sounds so inviting, Rebecca. A farmstay {I've never heard that term before!}, a canvas tent, and an oil lamp burning late into the night as you paged through The Help.
DeleteSo cool ...
I can remember reading Nancy Drew books and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by flashlight when I was young. I got caught a few times, but my mom (an former English teacher) was understanding!
ReplyDeleteI have read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard so many times I lost count. I learn something new each time I read it.
I'm seeing Annie Dillard's name often these days. I'll have to check her out, friend ...
DeleteMeanwhile, thank you Nancy Drew for keeping so many of us company in those early years. She made us feel brave, didn't she!
Thinking back to the books I read over and over as a child, it seems I liked old-fashioned English authors! I loved Enid Blyton, especially the Malory Towers series, which was about a girls' boarding school and always made me want to go to one, and also the Magic Faraway Tree, where a group of children would climb a tree and find a different land at the top each day. I also loved Noel Streatfeild who wrote books about children training in things like acting, dancing or ice skating. They were definitely my comfort reads for many years and I read them over and over again!
ReplyDeleteThese old fashioned English authors sound fascinating, Lesley! I'm going to check them out because I think a granddaughter or two might find them intriguing.
DeleteThanks so much for these cool leads!