Posted in Life, Poetry, Stories, Writing

For the Love of Books

Posted on by Penny Wilson Writes

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I love books.  I love the look of them, the feel of them, I love their smell.  I love the excitement I feel when I crack open the first page and the adventures that await me within those pages.   I love the shiny, glossy book jacket and reading those tantalizing, teasing words on the jacket.

I learned to read and developed a love of reading at a Very young age.  I could read long before I started school  Whenever the family would take a trip I was always reading the billboards or other signs aloud to everyone on the car.  Loudly of course!  🙂

The first time I met my grandparents, on my mother’s side, I drug my Grandpa over to the couch and sat him down and read to him.  I was very proud of the fact that I could read.  I think I was about 3 years old.

My mother raised 4 of us kids mostly by herself.  She didn’t have an education to speak of, so money was tight, always.  But when I opened a book, I was transported to another place and time.  It was a fantastic way for me to entertain myself.

I would walk to the library in the summertime and bring back an armload of books every few days.  During the summer, I averaged reading about a book a day.

No matter what you read, you learn something.  I kept a dictionary handy when I was reading.  If I came across a word that I could not figure out the meaning by the context of the sentence or paragraph, I would look it up.

I still love to read, but don’t take the time to do it as much anymore.

I think my life has been much more fruitful and accomplished because of my love of reading and my learning along the way.

As a kid, I used to read everything from Shakespeare to Poe to Sci-Fi to love stories.   I love biographies.  I love learning about people like Abe Lincoln, or my favorite artists.

My 2 older brothers always had comic books in the house, which I read.  But those comics would spark my interest in people like Sherlock Holmes or Isaac Asimov.  So my taste in books has varied widely.

I have some old books that I have packed around with me for years that I just cannot part with.  One is a favorite from the 1970’s, which is beautifully illustrated about the life of Gnomes.  Another is a book, also from the 70’s called “Shut Up and Eat Your Shoe Shoes!”  It’s a hilarious true story about a couple that homesteads in Alaska.  I also have some rare, old Tarzan books that I may pass down to my eldest grandson some day.

These books evoke wonderful memories of a simpler time for me.

I still have a stack of books on my night stand that are gathering dust.  Maybe it’s time to crack open one of them and make a new friend….

Copyright (C) Penny Wilson

Author:

Penny Wilson is an international writer who writes in several genres. She has written articles for WOW Women on Writing. Her poetry has been published in online journals, such as Ariel Chart, Spill Words Press and the Poppy Road Review. Penny is a member of the Austin Poetry Society. Her poetry has been featured in the publication America's Emerging Poets 2018 & 2019 by Z Publishing and Poets Quarterly and Dual Coast Magazine published by Prolific Press. Most recently, you can find her poetry in an anthology by WordCrafter Press called Poetry Treasures. Penny is an advocate for Mental Health Awareness and has the page "Mental Health Help" on her blog. She writes about the struggles of mental illnesses and Depression. She is passionate about spreading awareness for Suicide Prevention and Domestic Abuse. She expresses her passion through her writings of poetry and life experiences. You can find more of her writings on her blog at https://pennywilsonwrites.com/

13 thoughts on “For the Love of Books”

      1. Completely understand that! Keeping up with all the wonderful blogs, social media, not to mention my own writing projects…..not enough hours in the day, especially when so many are still committed to work!

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  2. Wow! I really loved this, Penny! Books have a magical power that we don’t credit them with enough – the ability to transport you to anywhere.
    The magic of movies is built upon books/scripts – written words.

    Research shows that the readers are leaders and are more successful in life. 😊💕🌹

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  3. A lovely post, Penny. You’re a girl after my own heart. I love books, too. There’s nothing like a brand-new, unopened book to get started on. I know what you mean about the smell of books, new and old. Secondhand bookshops have that lovely ‘old’ smell about them. I like to think about the original owner of the book. I can spend literally hours in a bookshop, or these days with having less money to live on, in the library. I’m not nearly as well-read as you, but I’m mad about books. I mainly read non-fiction. I’m just starting on a new book called ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue. It’s a true and very unusual story. One of my other blogging friends, Janet, recommended it. It’s over 400 pages, so it will take me a while to get through as I’m not particularly, a fast reader. Happy reading. Xx 💙

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  5. I share your love of reading and have been reading like wild this winter. I just picked up three books from the library. I had them all on order and they arrived simultaneously. Now I will need to read quickly. Reading, I feel, makes me a better writer.

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  6. I have always loved to read, but like you I had fallen out of the habit in recent years. I am currently trying to read just five books a month…. so far I read three in January and two in February, but am working on carving out time on my days off to read.

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