I like reading. A lot. I have many books at my house and I am always reading something. I also sometimes read books on the Internet at the Gutenberg Project. So I don’t know why it has taken me so long, but I finally renewed my Provo Library card. My new library card has a dinosaur reading a book on it.
I guess I just needed an excuse to actually go to the library. I tutor two little Korean girls twice a week. I have assigned a book for them to read, and so I took them to the library on Wednesday afternoon to get it. We had a lot of fun at the library together. They got some books and movies, and their homework book. And I got four books:
- From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- The underdog and other stories (Hercule Poirot short stories)
- Miss Marple : the complete short stories
- Emily Arrow promises to do better this year
By Thursday night (yes, one day later) I had read all of them. I am a fast reader, and they were not very long books. But I needed new library books. So I asked a friend if she and her children would be interested in a trip to the library. And we went on Friday. Her little four year old girl, Addie, and I were a team. I helped her pick out some books and then she helped me pick out some books. She put them in my bag for me, and scanned them for me at checkout. She was a very good helper. I got nine books:
- The clothes they stood up in (Addie picked this one for me because it was small and had an interesting picture on the cover. I wouldn't have gotten it otherwise.)
- Hercule Poirot's Christmas
- Dumb witness : a Hercule Poirot novel
- Ramona the pest
- Beezus and Ramona
- Masterpiece
- Princess Academy
- Toads and diamonds
- Mary Poppins
My friend, Rose, accuses me of reading “vapid” books.(For those of us who have forgotten our ACT/SAT vocabulary, vapid means uninspiring, boring, bland, dull, weak.) She says that these kinds of books don’t make me think. They don’t have deep meanings. They aren’t challenging in any way.
What do you think? Should we be reading to challenge ourselves or to escape into fantasy? Should we have to critique our books or just enjoy them?
3 comments:
I think you should read whatever you want! I read as an escape into fantasy for sure... and I'll read anything that I feel like! :)
I LOVE "From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler." And I think that if you've got the time to read all those books, then go for it! I personally prefer books that don't require too much thought, since reading is usually my relaxation. But I think that reading can and should serve both functions, pleasure and challenge.
We are definitely sisters. I'm the same way with books. I love to read too and I enjoy vapid stuff that I can get through in a day but I try to balance it out with books that "challenge me" and make me think. However, I don't read that much these days because I have no public library (well, I do but all the books are in Korean) and I find that my children and my house suffer when I read too much. When we get back to the states I am going to the public library first thing, though! Also, I love Poirot too. I guess we got that from mom.
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