Friday, July 22, 2005

BookCrossing post

I just spent a few minutes this morning reading and subsequently posting on a topic that interested me at BC - here are both the link to the topic (regarding "non-reading children", as the first poster labeled them) at BookCrossing, and what I wrote:

(link to the thread)

I don't know what I would (will?) do if my children don't like to read- it will be hard for me to identify with them! But I understand that there are plenty of people out there who don't enjoy books...I wonder if there's anything really genetic in it, at all. Another nature vs. nurture, I guess! I grew up watching my entire family read- I am the youngest of 3 girls, and everyone was reading before me (of course), so I think a lot of what got me started in the first place was wanting to be like my older sisters & parents. I remember once when my family traveled to Mesa Verde and everyone read "The Haunted Mesa" (Louis L'Amour) - I wanted so badly to be like them that I read it, too, even though I was only 8 and was so scared! The same thing happened with Stephen King's "The Eyes of the Dragon." So I think that a good example (having family members who are avid readers) is definitely a good start for kids, but of course it doesn't always do the trick. It's wonderful to have a reading family, though, because we are constantly passing books around. My grandparents (both sides), aunts, and uncles are almost all avid readers, but my cousins never seemed to take a big interest in books, which I could never understand. I think a large part of it (but this is just my own probably silly theory!) is that children who are very active don't want to sit down with a book when they could be running around. Of course that seems very logical when you think about it; the question from there is, is that some kind of chemical imbalance (ADD, etc.) or is it just who they are (which is of course also some kind of chemical thing, I suppose), and if so, why should they be forced to do something they don't want to do? I myself don't like to run marathons, so why should I be pushed into doing that when I would just be miserable?
That being said, I DO have a really big problem with children who don't read, and with houses where not a single book can be seen (those houses scare me). So maybe I should take some of my own advice. But it just makes me sad that there are people who can't enjoy the amazing worlds created by books. (And I hate to admit it, but I know that sometimes I think "how can non-readers be as intelligent if they aren't soaking up the vocabulary and knowledge of books?")

I've gotten better recently, though; my boyfriend is a big reader of mostly non-fiction, and at first that bothered me a bit- but then I realized that a book is a book, and that we can sit down & read together for long lenghts of time is what matters to me. (Since I can't live without reading!)

Sorry for such a long post. I guess a lot of my thoughts were stirred up by this dicussion! Thanks for hearing me out. :)

Happy reading, everyone.

Dan & I went to see Charlie & the Chocolate Factory yesterday night (after a dinner of sushi first, yum!). I never had a thing for Johnny Depp like what seems like 99% of the rest of the female population in the world, but I DO think he's an excellent actor. He did a very good job as Willy Wonka. And I always love the looks of Tim Burton's films - they are fantastical, amazing, fantasy worlds. He's definitely got an eye. I don't remember enough of the first movie adaptation to compare the two, but I think I liked them both about the same. Gene Wilder was also a winning character, and just as adept as Depp (heh, that sounded funny) at playing the eccentric and rather creepy Mr. Wonka. From what I recall of the book, though (which I read years & years ago, so I'm not a great judge of it) was that the Great Glass Elevator featured at the end of the book, wasn't in the first movie, and WAS in the second, but more than I remember! But, that could just be my patchy memory. I really ought to read the book again; I'm intrigued. I do think I remember correctly when I say that "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" was the title of the subsequent book, but I don't remember if it was part of a series or just those two. Guess I'll have to take a mosey on over to to clear things up!

Oh, and Grandpa Joe was played by the man from Waking Ned Devine, one of my favorite movies! I knew I recognized him! Yay.

For now, though, back to work.

p.s. It's 11:11, though - make a wish! xoxo

Currently Reading:

TITLE: The Overspent American
AUTHOR: Juliet B. Schor

TITLE: The God of Small Things
AUTHOR: Arundhati Roy

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