My Obsession With Books

Once again, I'll attempt to make this brief. I have to teach Relief Society tomorrow, and I'm admitting to you (both of you!) that I haven't actually started preparing the lesson. But I had to get this out!

I LOVE to read. If I had to make of list of my hobbies, this would be the number one thing I do in my spare time. I started reading when I was three. The first chapter book I ever read was "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl. My mother used to show me off; have me read sections of the newspaper to prove that I was, indeed, reading, not just memorizing ("This is Charlie Bucket. He is glad to meet you" or whatever.) When I would go to school, I'd always have a couple of books in my backpack. My favorite time of the week was when our class had library. My first library card was obtained at the tender age of 4; the librarian said I could have my own card as soon as I could write my own name: "BETH," scrawled in messy caps. I recall bringing stacks of books (cheap, stupid reading like Sweet Valley High serials) to school to read during the time between when I had finished my seat work but before the next subject was begun. This caused some amazement among my elementary school teachers. At my 5th grade graduation I won a reading award and accompanying thesaurus. But to me, reading was no different than breathing, or singing, or eating. It was just what I did. During particularly difficult times in my life I was able to "read" my way through them.

I didn't get serious about reading until high school. That is, I read mostly junk until then. Like I mentioned before, it was a lot of serials and fluff (excepting "Gone With the Wind" when I was 8). There wasn't much in there worth reading. When high school began, so did seminary, and I began reading the scriptures and other religious books. I dove into classics, hoping to figure out what the big deal was. Some of them I "got," others I didn't understand until I read them again later. Then I have comfort books: books that I read when I feel sick, or lonely, or need a boost, like the "Anne of Green Gables" series. There is my "bring this book to the hospital after you have a baby" ("In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson) and my "time to calm down, Beth" book (anything by Miss Read).

There are lots of other things I could do with my time that would create memories and experiences I could take with me even after I quit this life; but reading adds knowledge, philosophy, world travel, wider experience, and joy to my life in a way hardly any other hobby does. That being said...

I'm always hunting for good reads. There are gazillions of blogs and websites designed to provide you with oodles of ideas for reading. My most reliable source for a wide range of interesting, thought-provoking, and sometimes frivolous reads is www.basbleu.com. It's actually a bookseller's website. You can request a catalog to be sent to your home, or you can view the online catalog or do a search. After finding this catalog I really gave the interlibrary loan people a serious workout. Try it yourself.

One book you'll no longer find in their catalog (too bad!) but that is seriously worth your consideration is "Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic" by Jennifer Niven. It's an interesting and true story of a woman who acted as a guide to a team of men on an expedition in the Arctic and what happened to the men and to Ada, including what happened in her later years. Very riveting. (Actually, you could just read the survival story part and skip the "last years" part.)

And this Miss Read person I mentioned earlier: Not many people seem to know this author. Her books are a little slower in the plot department because they feature small English towns, where not much "plot" happens. However, her character development and scene descriptions are out of this world. They are entirely acccurate to a small town anywhere. Some people get bored reading her stuff but I enjoy it immensely. Plus, there are lots of Anglicisms that are kind of fun to try and decipher.

So, I failed at keeping this brief. But how can you be concise about something you feel passionate about? I'd like to know.

And now, off to my lesson preparations. Thanks for reading!