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 “Books
are a uniquely portable magic.” Writer Stephen King. A quote has
never been so true as this.
Today, I’m reminding you how special a book is. As American academic
Charles W. Eliot said, “Books are the quietest and most constant of
friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and
the most patient of teachers.”
I’m not advising what genre, what device, or what audio to use. Just
make sure that you take the opportunities and the adventures that
reading brings. Choose what is best for you and then DO IT!
Books were always important in my life growing up. I can remember
sitting on Grampa Moore’s lap as he read the Little Golden Book, “J.
Fred Muggs.” J. Fred Muggs was a chimp that cohosted with Dave
Garroway on the “Today” show in the 1950’s. Grampa and I would watch
the news….well, he watched the news as I sat transfixed by a chimp
eating pencils. It didn’t take much to entertain me. After that
stimulating news report, he would willingly read my J. Fred
book…...once. So, I had to listen at full attention.
Brother Jim, who was two years older than me, was more lenient with
his time. He read The Little Golden Book, “When Bunny Grows Up” to
me ad nauseam. I never tired of it. He was a great big brother who
would read me anything from Little Golden Books to Davey Crockett to
Roy Rogers. Thank you, Jim.
On my Mac’s side one of their favorite books was, “The Biggest Bear”
by Lynd Ward. Mac was the oldest and he would endlessly read it to
his baby brother, Bob. His little twin siblings would take the book
around the neighborhood, reading to any hapless neighbor that would
enter the tiny tyke’s world of the love of reading for a few
minutes. All these years later they remember the joy of reading to
these doting people, and the patience and time the adults allowed
them. They also recall fondly, being rewarded with lemon drops. What
a wonderful childhood memory.
My children loved Dr. Seuss, “Hop on Pop”. That’s about the only
Suess book I could read repeatedly. I think his writing is rather
daft, but my boys loved him. Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things
Are” was another of their favorites. I thought it rather
frightening, but the boys found it fierce and wonderful. They went
on to read it to their children.
If you want to get into a riotous reading regime…. Richard Scarry’s
books with the little gold bug hidden on the pages will get your
heartbeat going. “Cars and Trucks and Things That Go” would be
slapped out of my hands as the boys tried to be the first to find
and smack the elusive gold bug. It never got old.
“Good Night Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Clement Hurd
still sits between my Bible and my prayer book in my headboard
bookcase. Its pages are smudged, bent, and tattered. Sometimes I
just hold it and let it transcend time and feel the sleepy little
heads on my chest as I read to them and hear their little boy voices
drowsily repeating the memorized words.
It’s as if these books are speaking and transferring us back to the
best of the best of our childhoods. Not only did they enhance our
youth but gave us warm fuzzy memories forevermore.
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Have you ever wondered, when you have a library book…...where has it
been? Who read it before you? The coffee stains and bent corners
never bother me. It makes me wonder why those marks appeared. Was
the story so poignant that tears dripped down the readers’ face, his
hand trembled and he spilled his coffee? Was the reader laughing so
hard that the coffee spilled while she was in a fit of giggles? Did
the bent corner appear because a purring cat jumped in the
bibliophile’s lap and knocked it on the floor? Was the bookworm
startled back into the real world by an emergency and the book went
flying?
Every book has a story within a story inside its covers. As many
people say, “If only these walls could talk.” I think that of every
book I hold in my hands.
Author, John Green, “Books are the ultimate dumpees: put them down
and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they
always love you back”
J.K. Rowling, “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the
right book.”
There are so many varieties. I love murder mysteries. The who dunnit
books. I’m disappointed if I figure it out too soon. I’m humiliated
if I didn’t see it coming and the conclusion seems so obvious. What
fun!
My Mac would read nothing but true history, biographies or
autobiographies. Well…that’s what he said, but I caught him more
than once in science fiction. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
by Douglas Adams was one of his favorites. He could read Stephen
Hawking books without getting bleary eyed, yet Arthur C. Clarke, and
Isaac Asimov novels are in his library.
He had WWII airplane books and hot rod car books all over the house.
My contribution to the chaos was gardening books, writer’s books,
and cookbooks. A trip to the bookstore was a special adventure for
us and we had to hold each other accountable. It’s hard to think
about budget while within the walls of a bookshop.
It doesn’t matter if it’s an old bookstore or a new bookstore. The
lure of the written word is something I cannot deny. Especially as I
age and my body slows, my love affair with books grows. Writer,
Jhumpa Lahiri, “That’s the thing about books. They let you travel
without moving your feet.”
So, my message today is to READ. Read to yourself. Read to others
who can’t….either young or old. Read to laugh. Read to learn. Read
to discern. Books talk. Listen to them.
L. Maxine McQueen may be contacted at
maxmac.1@juno.com
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