For My "Bookie" Friends
... from a Lifelong Reader
by zz-neenaJanuary 21, 2008
I grew up in a house that had only three non-children's books in it. The thickest one was used to add some light height to a pole lamp in the living room. My parents read newspapers, and both swore that they had adored reading books when they were younger
but had no time anymore. They did work hard, but then so do I, and books will always be a big part of any home of mine.
I seem to have been hard-wired to love reading. I remember listening and watching carefully as my mother read my Golden Books to me. I *got it* that the little black squiggles on the page were the words she was saying. I burned to be able to do that. I don't know how old I was, but it was much younger than four, which was when the magical power began to grow in me and finally blossomed into the ability to read on my own.
The only books I owned personally were those Golden Books we could buy cheaply at the grocery store. I had a cousin who, once or twice, gave me real hard-cover books she had outgrown, but almost all my first chapter-books were from the library. My very first book-borrowing experience was in the Bookmobile that came to our street once every week. I loved it so! The smell of bus exhaust still stirs in me fond memories of books - in a very Bronx/Proustian sort of way. As a young girl, I tried to read every novel in our newly-constructed branch library in alphabetical order, but thick books from further along the shelves always beckoned to me and tempted me from my methodical plan. I never have tried to follow any plan at all since then.
I have some artistic talent, and I have dabbled in almost every medium including printmaking, painting, drawing, and sculpture. I have been a crafter since my early 20's. I have had many hobbies and enjoyed plenty of games and parties. But through all the changing whims and passing fancies of my life, I have ALWAYS been a reader. It is simply who and what I am.
I went to a very good private high school where there was an impressive population of above-average kids, and I've been through college and graduate school, but it was not until I discovered BookCrossing, four years ago, that I EVER had friends who wanted to talk about books.
And that is why, despite the hilarity of my family when they refer to my "bookie" friends, I celebrate the window BC has opened in my life. Because besides the fun I get releasing, finding, and trading books, I now have a place to come where I can connect with people like me. There is nowhere else in my world where I can ask or answer questions like, "Where are you in your book and when?" I have no other group of people in my life who keep notebooks beside them to scribble down names of books other people mention in passing. And when I travel, I know that there are real people out there, BookCrossers, with whom I share a bond that makes for very fast friendships.
So thank you, friends, for being here, and thank you, dear BookCrossing for making my life a richer one.
I seem to have been hard-wired to love reading. I remember listening and watching carefully as my mother read my Golden Books to me. I *got it* that the little black squiggles on the page were the words she was saying. I burned to be able to do that. I don't know how old I was, but it was much younger than four, which was when the magical power began to grow in me and finally blossomed into the ability to read on my own.
The only books I owned personally were those Golden Books we could buy cheaply at the grocery store. I had a cousin who, once or twice, gave me real hard-cover books she had outgrown, but almost all my first chapter-books were from the library. My very first book-borrowing experience was in the Bookmobile that came to our street once every week. I loved it so! The smell of bus exhaust still stirs in me fond memories of books - in a very Bronx/Proustian sort of way. As a young girl, I tried to read every novel in our newly-constructed branch library in alphabetical order, but thick books from further along the shelves always beckoned to me and tempted me from my methodical plan. I never have tried to follow any plan at all since then.
I have some artistic talent, and I have dabbled in almost every medium including printmaking, painting, drawing, and sculpture. I have been a crafter since my early 20's. I have had many hobbies and enjoyed plenty of games and parties. But through all the changing whims and passing fancies of my life, I have ALWAYS been a reader. It is simply who and what I am.
I went to a very good private high school where there was an impressive population of above-average kids, and I've been through college and graduate school, but it was not until I discovered BookCrossing, four years ago, that I EVER had friends who wanted to talk about books.
And that is why, despite the hilarity of my family when they refer to my "bookie" friends, I celebrate the window BC has opened in my life. Because besides the fun I get releasing, finding, and trading books, I now have a place to come where I can connect with people like me. There is nowhere else in my world where I can ask or answer questions like, "Where are you in your book and when?" I have no other group of people in my life who keep notebooks beside them to scribble down names of books other people mention in passing. And when I travel, I know that there are real people out there, BookCrossers, with whom I share a bond that makes for very fast friendships.
So thank you, friends, for being here, and thank you, dear BookCrossing for making my life a richer one.
