There’s Always Room For …… Books!

 Ok, my title isn’t exactly accurate.  I have bookcases all over my house, all filled to the brim, and that is why I read on a device and use a service like Kindle Unlimited so that I don’t have to find more book space.  But, with that said, I love books and with the impending autumn season (I assume it will get here eventually) I really miss browsing the bookstores for the newest, or maybe the oldest, read available.

I was thinking about my reading habits and history and I remember being a very young child watching my mother read the newspaper and asking what it felt like to be able to read.  I wanted to so badly.  Then I went to kindergarten and they taught us to read using those little Dick and Jane readers.  I was in heaven.  Then I went to first grade and those that didn’t go to kindergarten (wasn’t required in the 50’s) were learning to read using those same readers. Of course, I had already done it so I was bored.  Here is a photo of one of the readers but I seem to remember them being soft covered but I might be wrong, it has been over 60 years ago!

My mother would buy me books from the neighborhood toy store, Ann and Tom Brown Toys, and subscribe to book clubs so we always had books in the house as she and my father were readers as well. However, when I was in the 3rd grade I was introduced to the public library.  We had our end of school picnic at a historic park in San Antonio and, if we had a willing parent with us, we could go to the library that sat in the park and get a library card.  Well, I did have a willing parent and I did get my first library card!  This is the library — it still stands and it is still operational.

I have other photos of it, I just can’t find them, of course, but it was a lovely library and I still remember the children’s section — full of Lois Lenski, Kate Seredy, Laura Ingalls Wilder, etc. One of my fondest memories — remember I am an introvert — is going to the library, coming home and curling up on the couch and reading for hours, listening to the rain (it rained a lot in San Antonio in the fall) and feeling so cozy.  

When I was about eleven or so I found my greatest pasttime during the long summers was reading.  I had a pool and a neighborhood full of boys but I spent many hours holding a book.  I learned early on to pick a BIG book to get me through the summer.  I think the first I read was “From Here to Eternity”.  

I had just seen the Frank Sinatra movie, was totally in love, and figured that was a great place to start.  Several more followed — Gone With the Wind, Marjorie Morningstar, To Kill a Mockingbird 

— yes, I know, heavy reading for a 12 year old but there was lighthearted stuff too — when I was about 13 I discovered the Gidget books, based on the movies.  My mother let me read the heavy handed stuff with no problem but let the light hearted, coming of age material come into our house and there were red flags all over the place!  And then, I read The Diary of Anne Frank and it changed my view of the world and the people in it.

Around the same time, 7th grade actually, I had to do a report on a famous Texas historical figure.  We didn’t have chain bookstores then but we did have a couple of indie stores, one being Rosengrens —

We also had another but I can’t remember the name — it was a little store in a little house and I am happy to report that it is still standing although it looks different.  It used to be white with a green door and a tinkly bell.  I purchased a book on William B Travis and I still have the book.

A lot has changed since those innocent summers of the middle of the last century.  We have seen a lot happen, most of it not good, I have aged and become even more intolerant of the world around me so my reading has changed a bit.

I tend to read a lot of series stuff — one of my favorite authors is Hope Callaghan.  Two of her series — Made in Savannah and Garden Girls are my go-to’s for cozy mysteries.  I started the Made in Savannah series after a vacation to Savannah, Georgia and I was totally awestruck by the town.

And the Garden Girls mysteries I started reading because the ladies aren’t too different in age than myself although I am aging faster!

I assume my interest in “serials” is due to early reads like Nancy Drew and The Bobbsey Twins — speaking of, I am going to start the Nancy Drew series again soon.  I am currently reading the latest offering in the Made in Savannah series — “A Pirates Wife in Savannah’.  It is fun and funny — due mostly to the character of Elvira — but I will let you read it yourself to judge and, in the case of Elvira, I think it is ok to be judgey.

When I finish with this book I will have read all in the series —-21 maybe? - and I highly recommend if you like light reading like I do.  I am afraid my heavy reading days are over, I don’t really buy “BIG” books anymore although I did read “The House at Riverton” by Kate Morton which I thoroughly enjoyed.  However, if it wasn’t on my kindle I wouldn’t have been able to read it because I can’t hold the big books in my poor arthritic hands anymore!  But, I do have a couple of more of Morton’s books on my “to read” list so I will get to them eventually — on a device.

So, that is my thoughts on reading.  I love it, I recommend it, I enjoy all genre’s (well, maybe not military history!) but it is truly a pasttime worth pursuing.  

Tomorrow — needlearts.