Reading is fundamental!

I've never been much of a reader.

Early memories of my mother often include toting her newest book around.  I remember mom,  sitting on the couch, a  leg maybe tucked beneath her,  deep in the plot of the book, not hearing any of the clamor surrounding her.   Eventually she would  take a break to settle a discussion (almost surely heated) amongst some of her brood, or to gather herself another cup of tea,  or a cigarette,  before gliding back into a story that ultimately transported her to places she would not likely visit,  and being entertained  by the smutty lives of the adulterating characters.   She and my Aunt Eleanor (her only sister) would visit one another, share family stories, talk politics ( she was always humored to hear her sister and brother on a local talk show setting the host straight) and discuss recent reads.    Invariably, she would come home, brown paper bag in tow, with the latest books Aunt Ellie had finished.  I never really understood the attraction. Reading in my world consisted of compulsory educational materials I did my best to comprehend.  More often than not,  I would read the same sentences  over and over before deciding it just wasn't going to sink in.  I'd tell myself that reading was just not "me", the best that could hold my interest was Teen magazine or Life, quick and done!

Fast forward into my early thirties, mom suffers her first aneurysm, which by the grace of God she survived.....barely.  The battle scar, her eye was swollen shut, it would stay like that for months. It forever changed her ability to read with the effortless enjoyment she had known all her life.  I remember asking her about this and she said it was sad, but a small price to pay for what ended up giving her another 5 years of life.  The second aneurysm was not so kind.

Our eldest daughter is surely her grandmother's clone in the realm of reading.  Amanda is a voracious reader.  I notice it now more than ever.  When she's home, and has long since kissed us goodnight, I stroll past her room on the way to my own, see the evidence of a bedside lamp still on.  When I peek in, she is either passed out smacking her lips together in response to the creaking noise of the door, or peering over the book or Kindle, with an engaged smile, and then right back to where ever she was this night. Our daughter Jenelle is a reader as well, not to the extent of her eldest sibling, but a reader no less!  Kristen, I'm afraid, is her mother's daughter......but the news is good Kristen, there is hope!

Lately, and that means in the last few years, I seem to have developed an interest in reading.  Now I'm certainly not trying to pretend that I hold a candle to the afore mentioned afficionados, but I seem to have a few books a month in my possession.  I'm totally enjoying something I would  never have considered being a part of "me".  ( I've been running from Vampires, hey we're  Transylvanian Romanians, what would you think? I've also lived in the post -apocolyptic  world of Katniss Everdeen) . I haven't tried any really deep or scandalous reads, just taking suggestions as they come, but I'm open.  If you feel like offering a  suggestion  ........I'm listening!