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<\/a>The collection of books I hope to read in the next year.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
My nephew, David, had picked me up at the airport and drove me the 90 minutes to his house. Along the way we had a few conversations on a variety of topics. It was mostly me talking, but when he spoke, he asked questions indicating he was fully engaged in what I was saying and curious to know more. <\/p>\n
We walked into his house and continued our conversation in between me saying hello to his wife, Kayla. A few minutes later, she rose from the couch and announced she needed to go outside for a smoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour aunt\u2019s been here less than 10 minutes and she’s making my head hurt already,\u201d she said. \u201cShe\u2019s talking about things I don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Off she went outside to smoke. David and I chuckled. I wear those two sentences as a badge of honor. I don\u2019t fault Kayla for not knowing the things I do. She is your typical American. She is finished with school, so she doesn\u2019t read anymore and isn\u2019t interested in the topics I am. I also believe we are transitioning into a post-literacy age. We just don’t fully see it yet. Kayla is however, interested in seeing pictures of where I live because it is so different from the lush greens of the East Coast she is familiar with.<\/p>\n
David and I, however, have always been like this. He explains stuff and I listen. I ask questions. He does the same. It\u2019s something we\u2019ve done together since he was a little boy.<\/p>\n
I like reading and learning and sharing what I learn with others. I never really understood how it came to be or why it\u2019s something I do, it\u2019s just…something I do.<\/p>\n
When I was little, my family rarely went to the library. Mom worked 3:30 p.m., to Midnight. I would see her long enough after school to say \u201csee you in the morning.\u201d My grandmother came home from work around 5:30 p.m. Our library closed at 6 p.m. By the time dinner was eaten and the dishes were cleaned, the library was closed. I occasionally purchased a book through the Scholastic Book Club at school, but we didn\u2019t have money to buy books all the time. If I bought two books a year I was lucky.<\/p>\n
Mom did get us the World Book Encyclopedia set, which arrived every few months. Except it was a different letter each time, so you never knew what you were going to learn about next. It didn\u2019t matter to me. It was something to read. She bought them so we could do research for school assignments, but I read them like a book. I read my textbooks and I read whatever was assigned in English class even if I didn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n
As life went on, I averaged 15-17 books per year. I used to slog through titles I\u2019d picked because I thought if I started reading a book I had to finish it. I was 50 years old when I realized if a book sucks, you can put it down and read something interesting. For the last five years or so, my average has been 11-15 books per year. My choices tend to be longer. They are almost always non-fiction. Sometimes, they are a bit technical and\/or scientific, so I need to read slower, which lowers my book count.<\/p>\n
After my mother\u2019s accident on July 15, 2024, I stopped reading. It took me a year and a half to read a short book of poetry. I thought I\u2019d never get back to reading even one book a month.<\/p>\n