March 4, 2015
When I was a young girl, I found treasure in basements. I often perused a ledge full of my grandfather’s
and uncle’s books in my grandmother’s downstairs kitchen, the cool room used
during the summer before air conditioning. There I found Irving Stone’s Love Is Eternal, Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun, and The Diary of Anne
Frank. Although my parents read newspapers and magazines, I don’t remember ever
seeing them reading a book. However, in our basement, I found A Tree Grows in
Brooklyn and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. All
of these books I read at least twice.
I also read popular children’s books such as The Bobbsey
Twins, Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew and Dana Girls mysteries, Walter Farley’s
horse stories, Albert Payson Terhune’s dog novels, Louisa May Alcott, Five
Little Peppers. I connected so much with the Bobbsey Twins that when I was
around 10, I began writing my own book, The
Bobbsey Twins and Me, where I actually finished writing and manually typing
60 plus pages. As I grew older, I learned to treasure books like Antoine de
Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince and
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
Today I continue exploring between the pages of books.
Although I read nonfiction, I prefer fiction where I get lost in a character’s
head. Research suggests that reading literary fiction helps develop empathy.
Unlike television where everything is spelled out for the viewer, reading
fiction requires a different kind of connection in the brain. When you feel
empathy for someone, you feel as if you are in that person’s shoes; when
connecting with a character in a book, you step into that person’s head as if
it were you. I find myself doing this with Laura Lippman’s books. Two books I
read in the past week are also treasures— Jen Michalski’s The Tide King and most recently Christina Kline’s Orphan Train where I journeyed inside the heads of characters Molly and Vivian. The best books are those that not only offer something
between the pages, but also between the lines. I understood perfectly when my
daughter Lauren once said to me, “I’m sorry that I just finished my book.” She
had connected so much with the characters and their lives that it felt like she
was separating from a friend.
My gift
today is between pages.
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I'm a better reader, a more disciplined reader, a more devoted reader, a more adventurous reader and a better writer because
ReplyDeleteof you, Ms. Bonnie!
You just needed a nudge here and there.
ReplyDelete