I had to scrape my veeeendsheeeeld this afternoon for the first time this winter. It was freezing rain and I was at work and I can’t remote start the Ninja to Egregiously Idle it because it has a stick shift. Fortunately the roads were not icy (yet) but I still drove under the speed limit just in case and no one tailgated me.

So, how about some books? I have had a profile on Goodreads for a few years now. I am connected to exactly three people on Goodreads. My dear friend Jean of YAG years, who doesn’t apparently use it actively. And the beach urchins, who I stalk relentlessly🐽 I stalk them because they read a *lot* and their reading activity often provides me with good ideas.

I have read a lot in my life but somewhat intermittently. I got into a big sci-fi jag as a teenager but I also read other books. Like Portnoy’s Complaint, which The Commander bought and announced with some fanfare. I said I wanted to read it when she was finished and she said, “Sure, fine!” Well. The book disappeared in pretty short order. I did read it but I had to sneak it out of the drawer I figgered out she was hiding it in. Was it a good book? Actually I could probably write a whole ‘nother blahg entry about that but I might have to read the book *again* and I am not all that interested in doing that.

So I dunno, there was a period of Victorian novels, prompted by a college class, and then I read willy-nilly for a while, until I had kids!

The first book I read out loud to Lizard Breath (in the Reading Chair) was “Mouse’s Train Ride”, a simple baby board book with no words. Her Frances Grandma had sent it to her and every time I turned a page and voiced words for the picture (“the baby”, “some crayons”, etc.) she bounced up and down in my lap and “hyperventilated”.

I loved buying books for the beach urchins and I found that I loved reading books out loud. Baby/toddler books, picture books with an actual story. Charlotte’s Web to a three-year-old. Wind in the Willows to a four-year-old (with a two-year-old listening intently). Chronicles of Narnia to a couple of grade schoolers over breakfast and before bed. Indian in the Cupboard to older grade-schoolers, not to mention a whole bunch of beach relatives of all ages. I loved reading on the beach and I so miss those days.

The beach urchins transitioned into fantastic readers. I could still find books for them until about their teen years and then they moved on from me. Now that they are adults, they are better readers than me plus they are really good about finding good books. Our tastes aren’t always exactly in mesh but I do think we all like some weird stuff occasionally. Borne is one that comes immediately to mind, although it was meee finding Borne driving up to HL in the Ninja and listening to Science Friday on NPR. I sometimes wonder if I instilled that tendency in them by reading them Gorky Rises when they were little kids. “Gogol was goggle-eyed!”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019 at 7:13 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.