“Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author’s words reverberating in your head.”
― Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies
Ah… the written word. It has been my truest passion since my chubby little hands first held a book and my eager, unfledged mind tried to unlock the enchantment within its pages.
As I know it is with many of you, reading since childhood has taken me everywhere, through experiences and adventures in exotic lands beyond my horizon, and all the way back to the charm – or heartbreak – of a domestic story around the corner.
Books have allowed me to journey along with colourful, unforgettable characters, to get inside their minds, to live other, more fascinating lives. And between the lines, some books have given me truthful and enlightening glimpses of myself, that I may never have learned otherwise.
Our book club offering this month, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, found its way with me to sunny Cuba last week, a key item among my accoutrements, and a vital part of my prescription for R and R. To me, bringing along good reading material on a holiday is arguably more important than bringing along my husband my camera. Hmm. Of course, if I hadn’t had a camera, you wouldn’t be looking at my sun-starved knees right now. 😉
In our rapidly changing world of hurried living, instant technology, and short attention spans, has the enjoyment of full-length books fallen by the wayside? Certainly not for this blogger. Even if you are clutching an e-reader, as I witnessed with many fellow vacationers, you are my kind of people.
You are the kind of people who would probably love and identify with these other delicious author quotes I found on the love of reading.
“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”
― Jorge Luis Borges◊
“The world was hers for the reading.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn◊
“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”
― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish◊
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft◊
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
― CiceroDo you always pack a book or two when you travel? Or does a good read have the ability to take you away no matter where you are, even from your couch or in your own garden? Come, bookworms, share your thoughts!
Jennifer's Journal 