Today is International Book Day.
“People are dying…for lack of something to carry home every day.”
(Saul Bellow, Herzog)
If you’re a book addict like me your house is probably coming down with books. “I’ll just keep this book. It was a great read. I’m might read it again.” In the end my house resembled that TV show where the hoarders can’t bear to throw anything away. Now, I recycle the ones I read to the charity shops (where I buy more) or, I give them away.
Knockalla Caravan and Camping (my bolthole) have a Book Exchange. It’s heaven. People leave a book they’ve read and exchange it for another. The book swap corner is in the laundry room. So not only do you get a new book, you get to make new friends of all ages (mostly women men must think the clothes wash themselves)
We think everyone has access to great stories and poems and that reading is a very ‘me, myself and my book, kind of thing. Not so.
I’ve just spend three days learning how shared reading is not just for children. It’s a win-win for everybody.
To put it in a nutshell, sharing reading heals; it inspires confidence and leaves people with a good feeling to take home with them at the end of the day. (And you don’t have to be a knob or a snob to enjoy the banter about what the poem or story is about.
Probably the first stories I heard were ‘read’ by my ears. Stories, poems and rhymes I heard at home. Or, from neighbours as they leaned up against the bridge that spanned the river or waited for their buckets to fill with water from the pump, (just given my age away now, haven’t I)
In our house, despite the worry of money or lack of it, my mother sang as she went about her work. And so, unbenonced – (now there’s a great word that not even a word) to us, we learned rhythm and rhyme and song.
My sanity loves a good read. It escapes into another world where it meets people (characters) it might hurry past in real life.
“You’re nose is always stuck in a book,” m mother always complained. She was right. Before the time of decent glasses, or when I deliberately broke the ones my poor father had paid good money for, I literally did have my nose ‘in’ the book. It was then and still is now pure pleasure to read.
I hope my three day course – just the beginning – lets me bring the pleasure of reading/listening to a good story/yarn to others; Especially groups who loved to read or have always wanted to read and for health reasons or other reasons have lost that ability.
I’m presently reading Tasmina Perry’s fictional book ‘Kiss heaven Goodbye.’
It’s a good enough read – good storyline – bit – dare I say it, crude in parts which adds nothing to the story.
What are you reading at the moment? Leave a comment and tell me if you’re read a great book you couldn’t put down.
Thanks for taking the time to read my Thursday Thoughts
Gemma Hill Writeyou Writeme 