A Reading Mother

There are many things for which I hope that my girls express gratitude someday. One thing I hope that they learn to appreciate is the power of the written word and the sheer joy of losing yourself in a good book, although I hope that they have more willpower than I do to put that good book down! I pray that they may someday be thankful for a mother who read to them. Since I sometimes find them sitting alone in their rooms "reading" a book, I hope we're already on that path.




I stumbled across a poem the other day called "The Reading Mother" that expresses this perfectly. Here's a verse from it:

You may have tangible wealth untold

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be.

I had a Mother who read to me.

Current favorites for the girls include "The Cat in the Hat" (Cady) and an Elmo lift-the-flap book about Balls and any book with pictures of babies in it (Maddy). As for me, I'm always on the lookout for a good book. I like historical fiction, biographies, and mysteries (Ok, Mary Higgins Clark is my guilty pleasure!). I DON'T like profanity, science fiction or books that take way too much mental effort to plough through. After all, I am reading for PLEASURE!

Some of my recent favorites have been:

1. The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz -- this is non-fiction that reads like fiction


2. Sunflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See -- love, love, love this one!


3. The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven both by Barbara Kingsolver -- both follow the same main character, good stuff about life and love, especially if you've lived in Arizona!


4. The Chronicles of Narnia -- I try to read the whole series every year
   

If you have any recommendations, put it in a comment and pass it along!