Some Days Are Novel

I just reviewed the books on my daughter's list for Freshman English class.  I am so excited for her, but please do not tell her. The best way to squash a child's academic inquiry is to tell her how excited her mother is about her academic requirements.

From way back, reading has always been my safe place, my down time activity, my source of adventure, my chance to see the world from the suburbs of Chicago.  As a young child, I read late into the night with a flashlight under the covers, unbeknownst to my folks.  I was hooked, a reading junkie.

That last paragraph could be summed in five words:  I really liked to read.  Still do.  I am able to read more these days, now that my daughter is a bit more independent and my husband is back into his passion for racing cars.  I need a major safe place for both of these reasons.

My daughter's reading list has stirred memories.  There are fond memories of my first books, many of them in the Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, and Hardy Boys series.

Then there were the books I learned I should not be reading.  I remember reading West Side Story.  When I read the part where Tony cupped Maria's breast, I slammed the book shut.  I made a vow to God I would never read a dirty book again.  I was way too young and oh so innocent.

Then there was the book I got in trouble for reading.  We were on a family vacation, driving to the Ozarks.  I was reading as we drove, of course. The book I was reading was The Godfather by Mario Puzo.

My dad, as he was driving, called back to the backseat, "Hey Kath, what are you reading?"  When I told him, he asked to see the book.  I handed it over the seat and my dad threw the book out the car window!  He told me that I was reading smut.  His word, smut.  My dad could always teach a lesson in a very dramatic way.  I think it was the Irish in him.

I read Valley of the Dolls later when I was still living at home.  I was smart.  I took the cover off that one.  It was definitely smut and I knew it.

So, back to my daughter's reading list.  One of the books on her list is To Kill a Mockingbird. This was the first book I read that made me cry when I finished.  I wanted it to never end.  It was also the first book that taught me a movie can never do justice to a great book.  And that movie was so good.

I read (of course) recently about the benefits of travel and seeing the world.  I believe that through reading we can see the world, learn perspective, and lose sleep which is akin to jet lag.  Other than several visits to Canada and a cruise to several Caribbean islands, I have never been outside the U.S.A.  But I have read the world.