Best Book Monkey
One of the things I miss about our former home in Arkansas is my book collection. We had bookshelves in every room and all of them were overflowing. That didn’t keep us from buying more or downloading more onto our Kindles…
We brought our Kindles to Thailand, and Brian pronounced them ‘ancient,’ as soon as we were settled. After my husband’s stroke and eventual placement in a nursing home, Brian bought him a new, simplified Kindle without all the bells and whistles that we thought he could operate. That turned out not to be the case, so we brought it home for me to use.
It’s very straight-forward and I like it a lot. Brian transferred the books I had on the old one to the new one. This is faster, easier to read, lighter weight. I stopped paying for the Unlimited plan, since I was paying more for that monthly than I would if I bought the books outright. I’m not reading as much because I simply run out of time. I can still find some free books to try, when I don’t know the author and am not interested in showing my support yet.
I put it in my carrier when we go to the cafe to get out of my housekeeper’s way on Friday afternoons. I switch between reading and sketching, and the time passes quickly.
Right now I’m enjoying the latest book in the “In Death” series by J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts. It’s called, “Framed in Death,” and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. (This is book # 61 in the series. #62 will be available in February.)
I learned to read when I was 5 because I had the wonderful example of my parents and older brother reading all around me. I’ve been a voracious reader ever since – except for while I was pursuing my Master’s Degree as a Reading Specialist. THAT is a program designed to kill anyone’s love of reading! It took me two years after getting my degree to be able to pick up a book to read for pleasure without tensing up and feeling I would be ‘tested’ on all the details of the book when I finished.
One of the things I tried to do when I ran my own reading clinic for several years in Tulsa was to get my students to realize what joy they would find when they unlocked the key to reading well. Once we figured out the skills they were missing and what kinds of things interested them, we used their interests to fill in the blanks and they were on their way, grinning. It’s amazing how hard a boy will work on phonics, figuring out how to chop up a long word into a word he could pronounce and use, when it’s tied to reading a comic book starring one of his favorite characters. Some of our girls enjoyed reading about clothes available in teen magazines. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of reading cartoons of any kind.
I consider reading one of the many gifts we humans have in life. We can learn things we need or want to know. We can follow directions to make things we can use or can give as gifts to others. We can dive into a world filled with intriguing characters who live in a world totally different than ours, making our problems fade away for a while.
Thankfully, there are ways to enjoy reading without spending a lot of money or needing a lot of space to store books. I love the idea I saw about people building library boxes on poles in their neighborhoods, putting books inside they thought others might like. These are completely free. The idea spreads, others bring books to share. Everyone wins. 😁
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I loved your post today, as I truly enjoy reading, as well. When we downsized our home of 38 years, I was unable to keep all of my books and donated them to the library. It was very sad saying goodbye to them, but I am hoping they will be enjoyed by someone else.
Your Kindle sounds great, and it’s very manageable to take with you. My Kindle is old, and I want another one after reading about yours today. Thank you as always for sharing your time to write with us. (Donna)
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Hi, Donna. I’m delighted you liked the post. It was great of you to donate your books. I hope a lot of people enjoyed your generosity.
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I love those lending libraries too! I have given many books to them. When we lived in the RV I had to pare down the many books I had. And I had to make and live with the rule, a new one comes in one or two go out! It worked!
I use Kindle a lot too and have my books that I wrote on Kindle Unlimited as well, though that hasn’t helped me sell as many as I thought it might.
As for the irony of you not wanting to read for pleasure (for two years) after obtaining your Master’s Degree as a Reading Specialist. WOW!It’s sad that a reading program would “kill anyone’s love of reading!”
I’m glad you overcame that! I still edit a LOT of books I read, from being a career writer (35 years in Tech). Ugh
Doubt I will ever read Harry Potter! Though our 13 year old granddaughter has read most all of those!
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I’m glad, but not surprised, that we share a love for reading. I do hope you read a Harry Potter book. I think they are wonderful.
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I love reading . . . I used to skip gym class at school and preferred to stay at the school’s library to read (in cahoots with the librarian, lol, who would tell the gym teacher I wasn’t feeling well). I once even came across a book my mom had read (we went to the same school) because the books had pockets and cards on the back with the name of whoever read them and the date. I asked the librarian if I could keep the book and she said it was OK since there were two copies of it! I still have it with me! And I was lucky enough to be able to move from Peru to the US with every single one of my books, since all my stuff came here in a shared container on a ship. And I also packed all my books with me when I moved from Virginia to Michigan, since they came in a moving truck. I’ve added tons more books to my collection all these years, although I think it twice now before getting new ones because of the lack of space! 😉
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What a wonderful story about the library and you and your mom’s shared book. I’m so glad you got to bring your collection with you. I hear you about running out of space’
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