Back in the Saddle

I love books. I love…love…love them.  When I was around 4 years old, I could not yet read.  I had a book that was the shape of the number 5.  For some reason, I believed this meant that at 5 years old I would, miraculously, know how to read.  I could not wait to turn 5.  When I did, I was, of course, not yet a reader, but I did start Kindergarten, where we learned the alphabet.  Nowadays, most children probably already know the alphabet by the time they go to Kindergarten, but this was the 80’s.  Most moms were too busy listening to Lionel Richie, teasing their perms, and smoking Capris. (Right?)
So, it was just the alphabet but I didn’t mind because I knew was on my way to becoming a reader.  By first grade, we were reading.   I remember sitting in reading groups of 4 or 5 while the teacher had us read passages aloud.  I loved this. I always secretly wanted to read more.  But I never asked.  I was not that kid squirming in their seat, hand raised and waving furiously.  I was reserved about my new passion.
One day on the bus I was reading a book my mother had just brought back for me from a vacation she had taken.  It was about a kangaroo named Joey.  Happily I read my story.  When I heard a couple of older girls next to me snickering, I looked up from my pages to see why.  They were pointing to the back of my book.  I flipped it over and there, written in a happy little half circle, was ‘an “easy-to-read” book’.  I hadn’t noticed that.  I was as humiliated as any 6 year old would be.
But I moved on.  I read on. 

As the mother of an eight month old little girl, my time to read has become less than scarce.  In fact I haven't read a book in 8 months.  Despite having very little time at my disposal, I have decided to start reading again, and more than the occasional magazine. I am going to give myself back the greatest of luxuries--time everyday to read a good book. Or what I hope to be a good book.

 I have just started The Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  The description says it is, "equal parts history, and magic, romance and suspense".  This is the description of everything I could want in a book. 

The next blog will be about this book.  And hopefully someone else will have read it and will come across the blog and want to talk about it.

Look for this book in an independent bookstore near you! To find one near you, check out http://www.indiebound.org/