thankful thursday - books

I grew up in a home with books. Lots and lots of books. My parents read all the time... newspapers, magazines, books of all kinds. We had family reading time. I always received a book or two for Christmas and my birthday. "Good behavior" during the week was rewarded with a trip to the public library on Friday evening where I could check out as many books as I could carry. And "bad behavior" meant you forfeited the privilege of going to the library - something that happened only once or twice! We talked about the books we were reading. We took books to appointments to read while we waited. We read in the car on road trips.

Yes, I grew up with a love for books and reading. As I got older, I was surprised to discover that not all families had books in their homes or read for pleasure. How did these people learn things? When I was in fourth grade, I was intrigued with sea horses and read every book about them I could find. My family soon grew tired of sea horse trivia and was happy when I moved on to the next thing.

And how did nonreaders escape reality? My older sister gave me A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett one summer when I was sick and had to stay in bed for several days (back in the day when bedrest was prescribed and we had no television!). In my imagination, I escaped my sick bed and entered the life of Sarah Crewe, the young girl the story is about, and the days of confinement flew by.

As an adult, I continue to enjoy reading and appreciate a "good book." Not surprisingly, my sweet hubby also enjoys reading, although our reading interests are sometimes quite different. We encouraged our daughters to read - for knowledge, for fun, for escape.  And we are delighted that as adults, they both enjoy reading, too. It gives us another thing we can enjoy together as we recommend books to each other or introduce one another to a different genre.

Several years ago I was convinced that I would not enjoy the "young adult" trilogy, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I was sure I wouldn't like the premise of the book - a society that sends children to fight and kill each other for entertainment. After they read them, my daughters thought I would like the books and encouraged (read: nagged!) me to read them for myself. To my utter surprise, I did enjoy them and learned there was much more to them than what I had originally thought. You really can't (or shouldn't, anyway!) judge a book by its cover!

Reading is a lot like eating. There have been a few books I've started reading and didn't like just as there have been some foods I've tasted and didn't care for. It's okay to quit reading a book just as it's okay to not eat certain foods. On the other hand, there are some foods I absolutely didn't care for as a child (cantaloup!) but really enjoy now. And the same is true for a few books I quit reading when I was younger but picked back up to read years later and loved. Tastes change. Once in awhile you find a book you want to read again and again. I have read Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell eight or ten times. It reminds me of my grandmother who introduced me to the book and then the movie. It's like chicken noodle soup - comfort food!

There are many things concerning books and reading that I am thankful for. Things like having the freedom to read any book I choose - and God-given discernment to choose wisely. And that God gave me, and my parents nurtured, a love of reading from an early age. And that God gives some people the gift of writing well. Where would we be without such gifted and talented authors as William Shakespeare, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl, C. S. Lewis, Mark Twain, Dr. Seuss, ...

May is National Get Caught Reading Month. Are you a book lover? Great! Or was the last book you read one that was assigned in school? I challenge you to pick a book and read it this month. You just might be surprised and really enjoy it.