When I was a little girl, I was very lucky indeed to have a mother that was not only an excellent primary school teacher, but an excellent story teller. When my mother would read to us, as she did each and every night as far back as I can remember, she would weave magic with her voice, giving it character, clearly bringing wonderful images into my mind of new places, new faces, and wonderful adventures by the dozens. My mother had a talent for story telling, and I think each of us, her four children (now all adults), have inherited the same gift.
But it isn't just the way my mother read to us, or even the books she read that made the experience so special. What my mother really did, through reading to us, was inspire a lifelong love of books. I have often given her full credit for my success as a student. I went on from high-school to college (first studying Culinary Arts, and then Nursing), and then went further, getting my Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing, and then finding my way to a Master's Degree Program.
I don't consider myself a particularly fast reader, I am not someone who can flip pages at warp speeds and pull in words with only the merest flick of a glance, but I am a very comprehensive reader. What I mean by that is that my reading comprehension is absolutely crystalline, I read something once, and not only do I understand exactly what I have read, but I see it in images in my mind. Beyond that, I have a gift for memory of things read, I rarely forget something I have read, and even though I may read it again for the pleasure of it, often gleaning even more depth and meaning from the words on a second glance, I remember reading it, I can recall my initial impression of the information, and it comes fully to mind once again.
So as far back as I can remember, I have been reading to myself. What started with my three siblings and myself piled on a bed, hovering around my mother, trying to see the pages, has turned into a lifelong skill and passion. Each night my mother would rotate "rooms", we each had our turn, on our own bed. With my siblings in tow, we would have our turn to select the one or two books to be read that night. We owned a lot of books, and got many more from the local library, many were read till they were almost threadbare, or the literary equivalent, and we all had our favorites. We were all four of us born within a 5 year period, so the closeness in our ages meant even books intended for younger children were still wonderful to have read to us. But as I got older, and my mother would move room to room, tucking us all in with a kiss goodnight, I started to bring my own pile of books back to my bedside table and begin to read to myself once all my siblings were in bed. I loved my Little Golden Books, award winning classic stories like Stone Soup, or culturally diverse classics like Strega Nona and Piggy Bank Gonzales [still a huge hit with everyone].
The first 'big girl' books I remember falling in love with included such classics as The Velveteen Rabbit and Charlotte's Web. There was a brilliant series called "The Value Of", which included the true life tales of some of the most famous people in history, such as Helen Keller, Harriet Tubman, and Louis Pasteur; with their stories of perseverance, curiosity, and kindness so inspiring. Classics like those by Roald Dahl and The Wind In The Willows were always stacked on my bedside table, ready to go. Once I felt I was too old to be read to, I graduated to reading the entire Judy Blume library, a series of rather silly teenage romance-type books, and then on to some Stephen King classics and Science Fiction greats. I read The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and moved on to find a love of Fantasy like the books of Anne McCaffrey.
The point of this revelation is to say that parents have perhaps the most important and most enduring effect on their children's perception of books and reading. A parent can actually impart a very important legacy of not only a love of reading, but the doors that reading can open up in a child's life in terms of education and future career prospects. It isn't just a matter of entertaining your child, or settling them down to sleep at night, it is teaching them to think, to create images and whole worlds in their minds, to allow them to access anything that they are interested in, and to know the joy of understanding and belonging to a broader community of readers. Reading is a pleasure, it is a skill that never leaves you, and it can be something that you can share with others and connect to people through.
So why blog about books? Because I read, a lot, and I wanted to share my fabulous book finds with others, as well as help parents decide on the kinds of book they want to introduce to their children, their 'tweens and young adults, and the books that are going to change the way you can dialogue with your children or the children in your life. For my part, I have 3 nieces and one nephew, aged from 7 years to 15 years old, and I want to make sure that they are exposed to reading and to good quality books that we can share and discuss together. I know that when I share my thoughts about many of the Young Adult books I have read with my eldest niece, we have really meaningful discussions about life issues that would never come up without the shared experience of reading books. I feel I know who she is better than I would have otherwise, and that we together have developed a new understanding of each other beyond just an aunt and niece relationship. We are kindred spirits, and we have our own little private book club where no answer is wrong, no observation is laughed at, and no question is forbidden. It is a glorious thing.
My blog will largely focus on eBooks, since my Kindle is my new best friend and constant companion, but will also focus on some hard copy books and any review copies I receive. The best thing about the eBook boom, something I will be talking about in future posts, is that it has provided many Indie (Independent) Authors a near equal footing in the marketplace, alongside well publicized and widely published authors. It is really exciting to see what is coming from the Indie scene, and it takes a bit of experience to know where quality Indie books can be found and how to select these books. Books available on eReaders are also reviving many Classics, novels that have survived the years necessary to be available at a relatively minimal cost, and take up no room on your shelves. Going back to the classic books that have stood the test of time is a wonderful way to familiarize yourself with your e-reader and build a library of titles to read quickly. No matter what type of eReader you use, the books are common to almost all of them, and therefore the reviews and commentary here will be relevant to all forms.
Welcome to My Favorite Escape.
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