Life: By the Book

Certain things in life are indisputably true:

• Beds are more comfortable in the morning than they are at night.
• Say what you will; the first bite of a Big Mac is magic.
• Reading isn't just fundamental it's essential to my life.

Throughout my life I have turned to books for escape, information, friendship, explanations, comfort, and hope.

I'm 7 years Old.

I'm reading out loud from the Dick and Jane reader. I got to the bottom of the page and the teacher stopped me. I'd read the word "play," but we hadn't yet learned it. This was way before Hooked on Phonics, back when we memorized the words. The first word I ever read for myself was "Play", and I remember it like it happened this morning.

“Few things leave a deeper mark on the reader, than the first book that finds its way to his heart.” – Carlos Ruiz Zafón

I'm 8 years old.

I walk to the A&P grocery store down the street every Saturday because that's where the Bookmobile sits once a week. I have my own library card and I can take home 5 books each week.

As I return my precious 5 books and carefully choose the thickest books I can find to take home with me (so that they will last longer) I take my time and sit on the small stool to quickly read a short book while I am there.

My books are in the back of the bus and I watch as the big kids graduate to choosing from the entire collection. Someday, I think, I will be able to read anything I want.

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”―Maya Angelou

I'm 10 years old.

My grandparents had a green and white set of World Book Encyclopedias and a large red book that contained the stories of the classic operas. I remember starting at "A" and making lists of all the mythological names as I read the encyclopedia. No, I didn't read them straight through, but sitting on the couch with the gold-foiled pages open on my lap was my favorite way to spend the day.

And I was probably one of the few kids in my class that knew what Gotterdammerung meant. These days all the kids know the original old Norse phrase from which it is translated: Ragnarok. But I knew Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods long before the Marvel Universe was looking for a Hemsworth to be Thor.

“In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own.” – Anna Quindlen

I'm 14 years old.

I need to take an elective in High School, so I pick speed reading. My motivation is simple: I want to read faster so I can read more. Thank you, Mrs. Apple; it was one of my favorite times of the day. Just sitting in silence and reading a book.

(Except for Ethan Frome; my pick for most depressing book ever. I could NOT read that quickly enough, just to get it out of the way.)

“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm 22 years old.

I have a new little baby that won't nurse-and she just cries and turns away-and I am sure that I am doing everything wrong- and my mother and mother-in-law say why not just use the bottle she'll never know the difference- and none of my friends have babies yet- and I don't drive and it's November- and PLEASE GOD! when are they going to invent the internet?

I get a paperback book written by the La Leche League from Woolworths and I read it and make a long-distance call. It was the 80's and I called DURING THE PEAK CALLING HOURS in the middle of the day! And she nurses. And she thrives. And we are fine.

“If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one’s chances of survival increase with each book one reads.” – Sherman Alexie

I'm 24 years old.

In my fifth month I graduated into maternity clothes and am happily anticipating the last four months of an uneventful pregnancy and the addition of another child. After a walk with our toddler, we both take a nap. That evening a sudden rush of blood and tears signal the end of that happy anticipation.

I turn to library books, hoping to understand why my body let me down. I also return the ‘Baby’s First Year’ book to the stationery store.

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” – Charles William Elliot

I am 33 years old.

The day before our 14th anniversary my husband gives me a surprise and tells me he doesn't love me anymore. I am a bookstore manager now, and I am drawn to the relationship section.

I read them, one after the other, hoping to find the answer. What was on Oprah? What was on Doctor Phil? Is he Mars? Am I Venus? Am I a Woman Who Loves Too Much?

I never found the one perfect line. This time the magic eluded me, the repair wasn't possible. But I don’t blame the books.

“Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.” – Alberto Manguel

I'm 49 years old.

I came home from a brief day at work. My van packed with boxes of books that made up my business library, one I built book by book over many years. No longer needed at the office, because I am no longer needed at the office.

I mourn. Then I take action. For the first time in over 20 years I prepare to do something I could never do when I worked for a bookstore: sell my books.

I cull them carefully, putting aside the ones I simply must keep, packing up others. I travel to a used bookstore and hand over box after box of my friends.

“Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you.” – Louis L’Amour

I'm 59 years old.

In the midst of the pandemic the libraries are closed. People turn away from the struggling bookstores and reach out to their flickering screens to order packages wrapped with too much paper and free from fearsome personal interaction.

No more story time unless it is via Zoom call. No sitting on Grampa’s knee as he reads nursery rhymes. No personal suggestions as a bookseller hands you books they are sure you will enjoy. No primal connections, just Prime delivery. Not enough.

So we build a Little Free Library and place it in front of our house.

Now the neighbors that take their solitarily-safe walks up and down our dead end road can experience the same joy of discovery that lit up my world in the Bookmobile once a week. They can browse, discovery, and find some escape into new worlds and thoughts.

“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” – C.S. Lewis

Reading is indeed fundamental.

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