Book Readers introduction

As mentioned in my prior post, I put up a couple of introductions to new groups this morning.

Here's the second one.

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I posted a LONG introduction on the motorcycle board a moment ago. I won't bore you with that same intro. Suffice it to say, I'm looking forward to the discussion and commentary of this board. Looks like some good people and discussion here!

Probably the only good thing my parents ever did was instill a love of books within me. My grandmother on my father's side was a big boost too. One of the very few worthwhile things my dad ever did was read to us as kids but he never just read a book to us. Somehow, he brought them to life. He was no great actor, I'm sure, but to him, books were not just meant to be read to the kids. They were meant to be dramatized. Scary books became terrifying. Love stories made us cry. Dick and Jane were real people. We wanted to know what the giant octopus was going to do to the sailors in the boat. We couldn't wait to hear if the troll had billy goat gruff for lunch.

A blanket to hide under or a tissue to cry in was required equipment whenever dad read a story to us. I don't have kids but when I read to nieces or nephews, I try to do the same thing. I'm not that good at it but I've learned something very very important: The kids don't care. They ALWAYS love it, no matter how badly I do the story. Yes, in the mind of a child, it brings a story to life.

You can picture the graphic: A book is opened and out comes a parade of knights in shining armor, spacemen, creatures, faraway lands with snow-covered mountains and lost mines all clamoring for your attention and giving you the best of worlds both real and imagined.

Yeah. You know you've been there before. In front of the fireplace, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket and a cuppa hot comfort. Lost in a book.

Until you have to pee again. :-)

As I've grown up, my love for books has grown more and more and more. I still read fantasies and sci-fi and still love them dearly. Books like Lord of the Rings (30 plus readings to date), Dune, Aztec, Dragonriders of Pern and others of their peers. Lately, I've started reading more non-fiction and find that there is just as much thrill as there ever was in the fiction. Biographies of Lincoln and Einstein, histories of New Mexico, discussions of the flaws of philosophy, essays on religion and morality and truth and fiction, histories of tragic world events.

I read with a pencil. A pencil allows me to talk to a book. If you're ever at my house and you see one of my books, you'll see that I write in the margins a LOT. A pencil allows me to become a part of my books and my books to become a part of me. What better way to own my books than to write in them and converse with them so I remember them better?

Yeah, I love to read. As I look through some of the discussion here on this forum, it's obvious that there are a lot of other like-minded people here. I hope we can all have fun together!

--Wag--