Reading for Pleasure

School is back in session for most kids by now. In accordance with the month-long theme “All About Me,” my six-year old has been asked his favorite color so many times he is contemplating his loyalty to green. 

Among other personal assessments, he was asked to declare his favorite book for a diorama. Without a moment’s thought he committed to a short kids novel from the seemingly endless Magic Tree House series.  (We happened to be reading it together at the time of his assignment.)  When I questioned him about his choice, (if you have read one or more of these Jack and Annie “adventures” with your child, you understand) he was emphatic in the affirmative. 

Although I come from a family of avid readers, in my youth I would not consider carving out a moment in my day to voluntarily crack open a novel.  It was not until a medical condition, Ulcerative Colitis, bound me to my house for long periods of time, that I recognized the charm and appeal of getting lost in a good book.

It was during a tough UC flare that my mother, who has an enormous personal library, handed me a book and said, “I think you will like this. Reading is good.” If you read my last blog entry, you know that my mom is always right when she’s not wrong.  And for the most part, I have liked or loved her recommendations. Plugging away at one novel she gave me, Mom mercifully lifted the “burden” and said life is too short to plough through a book you aren’t enjoying, so I cut my losses and moved on.  It was good advice.

Can you remember the books you have read over the past year? Two years? Your adulthood?  Often, I have trouble remembering the name of the book I just finished.  Sometimes, I blank out on the name of the book I am reading at the moment.  For example:

Me: I am reading this wonderful novel…it’s…it’s called…you would like it, really.  The title is....

Friend: (trying to be helpful) Who’s the author?

Me: Staring blankly.

(and scene)

With mom’s help, literally going back to her bookshelves, I backtracked and employed Pinterest to inventory and rate my “Reading is Good: Mom’s Book Recs.”  If you check it out, you can probably determine when I favor an author.

If I had to pick a single book to recommend, it would be: Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell.  When other people attempt to describe a novel before I read it, it rarely if ever does the piece of writing justice, so I will not commit the same crime. Just give Caldwell 100 pages and become immersed.

As for The Magic Tree House books, I will be recommending a new series to my son imminently, for while it has it’s place, I can only go on so many adventures with Jack and Annie before I want to burn down that tree house.

I'll just hand him a new book and say, "I think you'll like this.  Reading is good."

Yes, they are in alpha order by author.  Mom doesn't mess around.