Wednesday, November 29, 2017

The Gift of Reading

Old antique books in wooden shelves at the library

Wally Bock thanks Irwin Hoffman, Walter J. Black, and his parents for bringing reading into his life.

I can identify with his story. My parents stressed reading simply by having a lot of books in the house. Our encyclopedia set was so old that the entry on Adolf Hitler indicated that he was still alive but at least we had an encyclopedia along with non-fiction books and novels. 

My mother loved, memorized, and wrote poetry. My father was more inclined to read nonfiction although I recall a conversation with him where it was evident that he was a secret reader of Shakespeare.

An 8th grade teacher of mine - Mrs. Beluzzi - also increased the scope of my reading by loaning novels to me. The Book of the Month Club's history series for young readers was another inspiration.

One ally of the financially-strapped at that time was the Modern Library books. I still have editions that were purchased many years ago. It's nice to see that Modern Library is still around.

One odd item: Although I probably read more than the average person there is a constant awareness of the huge amount that remains to be read and studied.

Read Wally Bock's post. You may see yourself in it.

[Photo by Roman Kraft at Unsplash]

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