I went to brunch (sounds much posher than a late breakfast, doesn’t it?!) with my lovely cousin and her gorgeous son this week.
As is so often the case when I’m with people, sooner or later books come up in conversation. It got me thinking about how sociable books actually are.
My mum taught me to read before I went to school, so from a very early age books were a shared activity. Fast forward to English Literature classes, where we discussed the text in detail, through to university where we would share textbooks, or where I took books into my temping jobs and people would ask about them.
Now, I have a writing group, and a reading group, both of which are, fundamentally, book-based social events. We see films of books, either with friends, or family; sometimes as a date. We watch them on screen and on stage, we hear them on our ipods. We have special ones for certain times of the year, or for important events. And we pass them on, sharing books we have loved with our children, our nieces or nephews. They in turn will do the same.
I love escaping to the privacy and quiet of a book, and I love the peace I get sitting comfortably, with a book in my hands. But I love the discussion too – and the joy of books is that you can have both. When reading is part of your job, you’re a very lucky person. __________________________________________________________________________________________ The reading challenge continued this week with just one completed book:
Book 6 – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. This is another story I half-know, from films. It’s utterly bonkers, really; there are some wonderful details and plenty of ideas that I can imagine I’d have loved as a child. The Queen of Hearts is both frightening and ludicrous, as is her husband; the White Rabbit is officious and the Mad Hatter is not as mad as you might think! The downsides are that Alice herself is fairly frustrating, and that the end just sort of… happens. I wanted more, and it almost felt as though I’d turned over too many pages and missed a bit. Overall, I can see why this has an enduring popularity, and I can imagine the delight a child would take in some of the ideas, but I wish the last chapter was different!
Moby Dick has gone from my reading challenge life. I read a line that made me question why on earth I was persevering, and I stopped. Other American classics will take its place though!
Until next time,
Happy reading!
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 
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