"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." ~George Bernard Shaw

"Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time." ~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn


Monday, May 16, 2011

The Joy of Reading


Swiss Family Robinson,
Secret Garden,
Little Princess,
Tom Sawyer,
Little Women,
Huck Finn,
and Nancy Drew
they were just the beginning
to my love of books and hours
blissfully reading under the covers
with a flashlight until caught.
Just one more chapter......
please Mom?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


We didn't have a TV in our house until I was 10.

We weren't missing anything as our parents had

a room we called the library as it had shelves and shelves

of books for us to read. The only reason they got a TV

was because Queen Elizabeth was being crowned

and that was an important event that we should not miss!

To this day all of us are still voracious readers as are

all of our children. Our parents gave us such a gift;

the joy of reading. We were very lucky.

23 comments:

  1. very fantastic.

    you rocked on this.

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  2. ERM - the word is 'crowned', not coronated - excuse my English smile! LOL

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  3. What a wonderful list of books. I read them too and loved every minute. Reading is a gift.

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  4. The true classics of our time... of all time. A wonderful list scribed for the likes of us.

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  5. A great memory, and an excellent list of books.

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  6. I don't mind having a TV but I love my books more.

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  7. Anonymous3:21 PM

    Love how you wrote some books within your already lovely poem! Great work.
    My magpie:http://verseinanutshell.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/open-book/

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  8. Love it! Such wonderful books and memories.

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  9. Oh, yes! Books, books, books! I, too, recall reading under the covers with a flashlight and not caring that TV was missing!

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  10. Anonymous3:56 PM

    I used to have back up flash lights!
    Love this, brought back memories.

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  11. I remember as a kid
    getting excited as summer
    vacation approached, not
    for the slack time, or the
    idle fun, but for those challenges
    our English teachers gave us,
    "Read five books this summer,"
    and we did, and we do.

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  12. Great good luck, indeed, to be brought up with books..your list looks like mine..

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  13. I love both of these! Thank you for sharing your family history. My family reads voraciously, too. It tickles me that you bought a television for the crowning. That's a good story.

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  14. you names a few good ones there that enchanted me for hours...one day i read so much i strained my eyes and thought i went blind...ha

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  15. Ah,a booklover's poem. Brings back memories, my grandmother got a TV just in time to watch the coronation too. Books everywhere though, a great family inheritance.

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  16. An uplifting read. C'mon the books!

    Actually, on overnight coach journeys, I've thrown a travel blanket over my head and got my flashlight out to read so I don't disturb any sleepers.....goodness knows what it must look like to some!

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  17. Lovely - brought back memories. We didn't have TV until I was eleven - but we had lovely, lovely books.

    Anna :o]

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  18. I grew up on those books too. Together with Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie.

    I only watched Peyton Place so that I could translate for my grandmother on Tuesdays and Thursdays!

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  19. I still stay up too late reading "just one more chapter!" A love of reading is a wonderful legacy.

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  20. Anonymous5:07 PM

    Love Nancy Drew.

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  21. You could be writing about me and mine. Nice Mag.

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  22. Books are a joy. Every one you mentioned except Nancy Drew, is on my book shelf - they're on my daughter's!

    I think we are a generation of book lovers - I silently thank my parents for their love of books which they handed down to me.

    Great post.

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  23. Great list, and yes, a great gift. One of the greatest, I think.

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