Go Dog, Go!

I was surely just 5 or 6 years old. We lived in Seabrook on the property my dad managed for Champion Paper Company, an employee’s only park. 140 acres of fun! Mom subscribed to a mail order early reader service and every so often we would get a few Beginner Readers in the mail. My memory is vague on all the titles, but not vague on how I responded. I remember grabbing the books, heading into the park, finding a picnic table and sitting down to read.

For Literally Hours!

I do not remember any lessons on the alphabet, phonics, spelling or pronunciation. Nor do I remember anyone reading to me, although I’m sure it happened. It seemed this part of my life slipped into high gear without any assistance. Books flew out of my hands as rapidly as a hot firecracker! Open, read until the end, where’s the next?

To this day I think this is why some school subjects came easier than others. If it included words that I could absorb into my brain for later recall and use, then mark it an easy subject. If it was graphic and pictorial sort of learning, then I struggled with sensing the importance because it seemed to focus my attention on the end result and not a worded process that I could complete in my mind with words that told a truer picture revealed through sentences, paragraphs and pages.

Programming languages came easily because they were readable! Geometry was a chore because I had to visualize, although, eventually I came to grasp the answers when I understood its purpose.

Here’s my thought this morning.

Much of what we gain in life began with a book in our hands. Titles, compelling words, meanings… they opened up the world to wonder and exploration. P.D. Eastman and Dr. Seuss showed the flow of words that make the flow of the story so important.

The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift took me down pathways of investigating the unknown and searching for answers. Louis L’Amour taught me moral values in a frontier way that made me hunger to be a man like the main characters displayed.

Alistair MacLean showed me that fiction geared around a genre could entice me deep into the pages even when I’m not sure what’s going on. James Michener told stories of the world in a way that makes me want to travel to far-flung places. Antartica anyone? James Alexander Thom took me deep into American history and I relieved the story of people and places in a way that made me feel part of the storyline.

Early Science Fiction authors took me to the stars just like the astronauts from our neighborhood wanted to do! By far, Isaac Asimov is still my favorite – so much science tied into the fiction! He wrote of tablets, communication devices, and planetary communication long before a satellite was launched or a computer was built that did not require an entire ecosystem to keep it operational.

The Bible? Well, it was confusing for a long time until I bought a bible for 50 cents at a bookstore closeout and the bible was rearranged chronologically (circa 1987). In other words, take all the individual books, chapters and pages, and put them into a time sequence. Doing so you find the history a compelling story to follow.

Today, my reading is very eclectic. I’m reading through Michael Hyatt’s, “Best Year Ever” along with “My Dream of Stars” by Anousheh Ansari with Homer Hickam. Then, I’m picking up Bob Buford’s twin books, “Half Time” and “Beyond Half Time“, again. I sped read them a month ago and want to linger through the words this time. Along with this, I’m re-reading the Bible through in Chronological order on my iPad with eSword, my favorite daily bible app. A daily reading schedule keeps me on track to complete the 1,169 chapters by the end of the year. This year I’m highlighting, making notes and taking special notation of words where they are used the very first time.

Did you know “wagons” was first used in Genesis 45:19 describing bringing Israel (Jacob) and all his family from Canaan to Egypt to reunite with Joseph?

How about you? What’s your reading habit? What genre draws you in like a hummingbird to a daylily? Who’s a favorite author? What was your earliest book that you found you could not live without, even today?

I know there are genre’s and stories, self-help and study books, but my focus has often been a fast read, and then at some time I repeat the book at a slower pace. In fact, I can re-read a book 10 times and just about every time it seems to be something fresh.

“Oh, for a nook and a storybook.
With tales both new and old.
For a jolly good book whereon to look.
Is better to me than gold.” ~Old English Song.

It’s only in later life that poems and rhymes interest me. Other than the like of Robert Frost, that is. Every so often, I pick up an ancient tome, you know, a classic, and open up writers of olden times to see their story.