The Power Of A Book
I love to read. There is nothing better than curling up on the couch or in your favorite chair with a good book. On those lazy summer days sitting on the back porch with a good book. When I say good book, I am not talking about classical literature here. A good book is one that hold your interest. It could be classical literature, historical romanance, biographies, self help books, science fiction or westerns. What ever you like and it holds your interest.
A book had the power to take you to another place and time without the expense of leaving your home. I have been to the Amish country several times. The Amish families in Lancaster Pa., and some Amish families in Ohio. I have visited the farms, planted and harvested crops with them. Then I have been to the high fashion world of Danielle Steel. The travels to the surburbs and across the ocean. Right now I am with a thirty one year old single women and her grandmother in Maine as they restore an old house. With a book the imagination can go anywhere. I was also in the attic, with VC Andrews "Flowers in the Attic" hoping to escape before something terrible happened. Or reading about someone s life and wishing I could be part of it. Even reading the Bible can take you on adventures. If one would read the military events in the Bible we could win a lot more wars. I have walked the palace with Queen Esther, as well as traveled with Moses from the palace to the desert. I saw the miracles that Jesus performed and was a witness when Paul was converted.
I have always loved to read. I grew up with books. My parents gave me a subscription to Children's Digest when I was about 8. I looked forward to each magazine as it came in. I remember in the third grade I got a certificate for reading so many books that school year. The library was in the back of the classroom and you took books and read them. One book I partically remember "Stepsister Sally". It was about a girl who had a new stepsister. She didn't like her. Her friends would pick with her, until something happened and they became friends. In the fifth grade I read about a vet and the adventures with his pets. That was the book I gave a book report on in class using a tape recorder. Thats how I got hooked with radio.
When I went to junior high, I was exposed to the big library a room full of books. I discovered everything from Langston Hughes to Laura Ingells Wilder. I read the Toby and Midghe Heydrom series all of the books about teenage life. The books on how to be a proper young lady. That is when I began to write short stories. They weren't good, but I wrote them. They were about people that I wanted to be like and things you hear adults talk about. Looking back they were pretty lame. I also read about Mahalia Jackson and other noted celebrities. I belonged to the Scholastic Book Club, this is where you could order paperback books through the school. Most of them cost about fifty cents each. Some days I wouldn't eat much lunch so I could save money to buy books. I always brought three or four. Some of the included "An Empty Spoon", Almost April, Go Ask Alice, Soul Brothers and Sister Lou. There were others that I still have around like "Up the Down Staircase." In high school we read short stories and I read biographies about the Kennedys and other people who fascinated me. I wrote more short stories. One of my teachers wanted me to send some of the things I wrote to a short story competetion but I didn't think I had enough talent. That was very dumb on my part.
I have read a lot of different types of books over the years. Some have made me laugh. You need to read a Barbara Johnson or one of the early Liz Curtis Higgs books, you will laugh until you start snorting. Thats what I do when I laugh so hard. There have books that have made me cry "Mays boy" This was the story about a boy born with cerebral palsy and the challanges he faced. I read "The Miracle Worker" by Helen Keller and other books. I think the most disturbing short stories were by Flamery O'Conner. "Good Country People, this story is about a man who seduces a women who lost her leg in some sort of accident. She wears an artifical leg and this man acts like he is interested in her, then at night he steals her leg. Then there was the story of "The Misfit" grandmother and he family were supposed to go to Florida, but she wanted to go to East Tennessee instead, they hear of an escaped criminal while at a rest stop. The grandmother gets mixed up where she is and talks her son into driving where she thought this big plantation was. They get lost and run into the escaped criminal who takes each one into the woods and shoots them all. Then there was Lisa Bright and Dark, it was about a girl with a mental condition who ends up walking through a glass door. That one I did a painting on it. I would rather read a book than see the movie, because the characters don't look like you pictured them.
I love plays, poetry, I just love to read. That is one of the things Matt and I have in common. Our upstairs looks like a library. I have recently started reading a lot of books on Kindle. I love it and it doesn't take up space. I have books from Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Charles Stanley, ChUck Swindoll and other noted Christian authors, as well as "The Wizard of Oz" and other types of books. I just love to read. When your life gets to hectic grab a book and relax.
A book had the power to take you to another place and time without the expense of leaving your home. I have been to the Amish country several times. The Amish families in Lancaster Pa., and some Amish families in Ohio. I have visited the farms, planted and harvested crops with them. Then I have been to the high fashion world of Danielle Steel. The travels to the surburbs and across the ocean. Right now I am with a thirty one year old single women and her grandmother in Maine as they restore an old house. With a book the imagination can go anywhere. I was also in the attic, with VC Andrews "Flowers in the Attic" hoping to escape before something terrible happened. Or reading about someone s life and wishing I could be part of it. Even reading the Bible can take you on adventures. If one would read the military events in the Bible we could win a lot more wars. I have walked the palace with Queen Esther, as well as traveled with Moses from the palace to the desert. I saw the miracles that Jesus performed and was a witness when Paul was converted.
I have always loved to read. I grew up with books. My parents gave me a subscription to Children's Digest when I was about 8. I looked forward to each magazine as it came in. I remember in the third grade I got a certificate for reading so many books that school year. The library was in the back of the classroom and you took books and read them. One book I partically remember "Stepsister Sally". It was about a girl who had a new stepsister. She didn't like her. Her friends would pick with her, until something happened and they became friends. In the fifth grade I read about a vet and the adventures with his pets. That was the book I gave a book report on in class using a tape recorder. Thats how I got hooked with radio.
When I went to junior high, I was exposed to the big library a room full of books. I discovered everything from Langston Hughes to Laura Ingells Wilder. I read the Toby and Midghe Heydrom series all of the books about teenage life. The books on how to be a proper young lady. That is when I began to write short stories. They weren't good, but I wrote them. They were about people that I wanted to be like and things you hear adults talk about. Looking back they were pretty lame. I also read about Mahalia Jackson and other noted celebrities. I belonged to the Scholastic Book Club, this is where you could order paperback books through the school. Most of them cost about fifty cents each. Some days I wouldn't eat much lunch so I could save money to buy books. I always brought three or four. Some of the included "An Empty Spoon", Almost April, Go Ask Alice, Soul Brothers and Sister Lou. There were others that I still have around like "Up the Down Staircase." In high school we read short stories and I read biographies about the Kennedys and other people who fascinated me. I wrote more short stories. One of my teachers wanted me to send some of the things I wrote to a short story competetion but I didn't think I had enough talent. That was very dumb on my part.
I have read a lot of different types of books over the years. Some have made me laugh. You need to read a Barbara Johnson or one of the early Liz Curtis Higgs books, you will laugh until you start snorting. Thats what I do when I laugh so hard. There have books that have made me cry "Mays boy" This was the story about a boy born with cerebral palsy and the challanges he faced. I read "The Miracle Worker" by Helen Keller and other books. I think the most disturbing short stories were by Flamery O'Conner. "Good Country People, this story is about a man who seduces a women who lost her leg in some sort of accident. She wears an artifical leg and this man acts like he is interested in her, then at night he steals her leg. Then there was the story of "The Misfit" grandmother and he family were supposed to go to Florida, but she wanted to go to East Tennessee instead, they hear of an escaped criminal while at a rest stop. The grandmother gets mixed up where she is and talks her son into driving where she thought this big plantation was. They get lost and run into the escaped criminal who takes each one into the woods and shoots them all. Then there was Lisa Bright and Dark, it was about a girl with a mental condition who ends up walking through a glass door. That one I did a painting on it. I would rather read a book than see the movie, because the characters don't look like you pictured them.
I love plays, poetry, I just love to read. That is one of the things Matt and I have in common. Our upstairs looks like a library. I have recently started reading a lot of books on Kindle. I love it and it doesn't take up space. I have books from Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Charles Stanley, ChUck Swindoll and other noted Christian authors, as well as "The Wizard of Oz" and other types of books. I just love to read. When your life gets to hectic grab a book and relax.
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