Successful Reads

Image Courtesy of Scampion

“A house is no home unless it contain food and fire
for the mind as well as for the body.”

~ Margaret Fuller

I can’t imagine a home without books. Books were such a part of my child hood. They took me on journey’s I couldn’t go on myself. The took me through the heart of people I would never know.

Books feed my thirst for knowledge. They help satisfy the curiosity within me. Books stir my soul. At times, they cause me to mourn and cause me to question myself and my judgment. Other times, they lift me up and linger within my heart. So yes, a house just wouldn’t be a home without books.

Books are some of my most precious possessions. It’s hard to imagine a home without a book. Yet there are millions and millions of people that have never had the pleasure of owning a book. What’s sadder still is that many of them don’t know what they are missing.

When it was time for my oldest daughter to start kindergarten we went to our first “meet the teacher night.”  The teacher had a list of questions she asked each child.  You know, the ones. The questions that help them to get to know the child better.   She asked, “How many books do you have in your house?”

Going through a questionnaire, she continued, “1 to 3, 3 to 5, 5, to 7, 8 to 10?” And then paused.  I could tell she was a little disappointed when we didn’t respond to her list, and that must surely mean we didn’t value books.

After seeing the look on her face I laughed and replied, “Oh, don’t worry.  We have hundreds of books in our house.  We have books in the hall, books in the kitchen, books in the bedroom, books in living room.  We’ve got plenty.”

I can safely say we had more food to fuel her mind, than we did to fuel her body.

“A wonderful thing about a book, in contrast to a computer screen, is that you can take it to bed with you.“

~ Daniel J. Boorstein

There isn’t quite anything like curling up with a good book. One of my favorite things to do, but haven’t done for a long time is to curl up with a good book, in bed, on a rainy day.

It is something I used to do constantly as a teenager. Now that I’m a very busy mom with young children that never seems to happen. I catch my reading while playing taxi driver and have to wait for the kids. (Another plus about a book).

I’ll do my reading in the doctors office waiting room and be interrupted what seems like a hundred times per paragraph. Now when I do read in bed, which is usually every day, it is just to short segment. Gone are the days where I read in bed for hours and hours. (Well at least until my kids are nearly grown.)

One of my ideal vacations would be spending time with a good book: curling up on a hammock in the mountains, reading on the beach, or lounging in front of the fireplace with a book. I want to show my children the world, so a nanny would have to come along as well. Just so I could get past a paragraph without an interruption. Oh, and I’ve got to throw in the delicious food sitting on a tray beside me.

Yes, a wonderful book, a fireplace, a big comfy chair, and a tray of fresh fruit, delicious rolls, and sweet butter.

Ahhh!