I don't read because of any deep passion for reading. I read because I think in order to be well educated, one must read. I read a minimum of four books a year, but rarely more than ten. Since I don't read a lot, I'm very picky about what I read. I don't want to waste my time. I read book reviews and ask my friends what their favorite books are.
Many books have inspired me in unusual ways. For instance, when I was reading The Copper Beach, the town was so well described I decided to see if I could make a map of the town. I did and had fun doing it. (I left a copy of my map in the book so whoever picks it up will have a nice surprise). A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer peaked my curiosity about the group of artists with whom she associated. I looked them up on the internet to see what their paintings looked like. A Woman of Substance had such an incredible vocabulary and used words that I'd never heard of before (and I pride myself on my knowledge of words) so I circled all the unfamiliar words and looked them up. Mother of Pearl had so many similes, I underlined them all (at least one on every page). I loved all the recipes in Under the Tuscan Sun. I added them to my own recipe book.
Reading gives you an opportunity to live more than one life. You get to be in someone else's head and experience a whole new way of living and thinking. You experience different cultures (Shogun and Memoirs of a Geisha) and periods of history (Pillars of the Earth, and the two historical novels about the mughal empire of India in the 16th-17th century which introduce the reader to the two women who inspired the building of the Taj Mahal: The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses). You get to know historical people on a personal level as if you were a visitor in their home, or lived next door and were privy to all their secrets (biographies of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, etc.)
I LOVED A Treasury of Royal Scandals by Michael Farquhar. I looked up all the royals (and their paramours) on the internet to see what they looked like, then cut and pasted them into my own personal reference book.
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life changed the way I organized my personal journal. Instead of putting an entry in every day, I made an alphabetical listing of topics (kind of like "blogs"). I think that will be much more interesting for my posterity to read.
I especially liked reading The Woman He Loved (about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor) because that is the time period in which my grandmother came to America from Hungary and I'm sure that whole affair is what people were talking about at the time.
To round out my favorites: Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, Tuesdays with Morrie, and The Diary of Bridget Jones (I know, what's this doing here - hey, I loved Bridget. What can I say?)
We only have one life to live, but when we read, we have more. And, it makes the life we do have richer and fuller.
Many books have inspired me in unusual ways. For instance, when I was reading The Copper Beach, the town was so well described I decided to see if I could make a map of the town. I did and had fun doing it. (I left a copy of my map in the book so whoever picks it up will have a nice surprise). A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer peaked my curiosity about the group of artists with whom she associated. I looked them up on the internet to see what their paintings looked like. A Woman of Substance had such an incredible vocabulary and used words that I'd never heard of before (and I pride myself on my knowledge of words) so I circled all the unfamiliar words and looked them up. Mother of Pearl had so many similes, I underlined them all (at least one on every page). I loved all the recipes in Under the Tuscan Sun. I added them to my own recipe book.
Reading gives you an opportunity to live more than one life. You get to be in someone else's head and experience a whole new way of living and thinking. You experience different cultures (Shogun and Memoirs of a Geisha) and periods of history (Pillars of the Earth, and the two historical novels about the mughal empire of India in the 16th-17th century which introduce the reader to the two women who inspired the building of the Taj Mahal: The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses). You get to know historical people on a personal level as if you were a visitor in their home, or lived next door and were privy to all their secrets (biographies of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, etc.)
I LOVED A Treasury of Royal Scandals by Michael Farquhar. I looked up all the royals (and their paramours) on the internet to see what they looked like, then cut and pasted them into my own personal reference book.
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life changed the way I organized my personal journal. Instead of putting an entry in every day, I made an alphabetical listing of topics (kind of like "blogs"). I think that will be much more interesting for my posterity to read.
I especially liked reading The Woman He Loved (about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor) because that is the time period in which my grandmother came to America from Hungary and I'm sure that whole affair is what people were talking about at the time.
To round out my favorites: Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, Tuesdays with Morrie, and The Diary of Bridget Jones (I know, what's this doing here - hey, I loved Bridget. What can I say?)
We only have one life to live, but when we read, we have more. And, it makes the life we do have richer and fuller.
2 comments:
I'm always looking for new books! Thanks for posting these.
ugh....book people!
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