I love reading and, as a teacher, I've always wanted others to share in that passion. I think reading is just a habit that almost everybody in my life had. I can recall my Granny sharing paperback books or suggesting titles to my mother. She also encouraged me to read the books that Mama and her sisters read as young girls. Why, some of my most treasured items that were inherited from Granny are the Anne of Green Gables series of books.
I remember Mama reading every chance she got - which was not that frequent, I'm sure, since we were farmers and she was busy raising us and sewing for the public as well. However, I know that she always had a book going and would talk about different authors and books. Daddy was also a reader. His literature of choice was mostly magazines and newspapers. He always wanted to be informed of what was going on in the world and he subscribed to many farming journals and magazines to keep up-to-date on modern farming practices. My Daddy always told me that education is something we carry with us and nobody can ever take it away from us. So, reading became a vital part of my education.
I learned a new term this past week from Marian Parsons, Miss Mustard Seed. She said, "bibliotheque iterierure means your 'inner library' in French. It's the 'invisible shelf you carry inside, filled with every story that's ever shaped you.'" She loves, "that concept and the idea that we can continue to expand our inner library throughout our lives. Through reading, we can learn new skills, visit other parts of the world, put ourselves in someone else's shoes, travel through time, become a student of masters, and challenge our perspective."
I love the combination of these two concepts - acquiring an education that I will always have and having an inner library.that I can always expand.
The thought that I have an invisible shelf where all the materials I've read are resting and ready for me to draw from whenever I need them is a good one. In fact, I used it just last week when my cousin asked me about Wuthering Heights. I could recall that it was written in the 1800s and that it was a love story between Heathcliff and Caroline or Catherine or some woman with a similar name to that. I could recall that it was shocking back at the time when it was published but that, when I read it in high school, I thought it was rather dry. I was able to make a recommendation for two or three authors whose work I enjoyed more. She wound up taking my advice about one of those authors and checked out an audiobook by the author that she is really enjoying. In fact, she called me back and told me she had selected a book and I was about half-way through it. We shared passages that we enjoyed and why we liked them. It was a great shared experience. When we touched base this week, I told her that I had finished that book and the sequel to it. She jokingly signed off of our phone conversation by telling me that she needed to go read!
I also went to the invisible shelf to recall the couple of Dogman books I'd perused and the few I Survived books I'd read. I could understand why my granddaughter enjoyed those selections. The graphic novels are humorous, engaging, adventurous, silly, and fun to read. They also have positive messages and promote kindness and persistence. The pictures help to tell the stories and make readers smile. The survival stories bring historical information to readers in narrative format that is exciting and at the same time safe. They are told in the voice of a young person who is experiencing disaster or terrifying events. It is easy to understand why my granddaughter who lives life with her hair blowing in the wind and running as fast as she can and competing with the boys in her class enjoys such selections.
I frequently go to the invisible shelf and pull out a literary quote in conversations. It will make the Mister roll his eyes from time to time. Yet, it is truly a way to relate things to one another. Sometimes it is a way to relate the old with the new and sometimes it is a way to compare or contrast. It may seem to be a nerdy thing but we all do it and don't even realize it.
Some of our most loved quotes come from literature. "Love is blind, break the ice, wild goose chase, and all that glitters is not gold," are all Shakespearean quotes. "Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between," comes from I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. "It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then," is from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. "It always comes to just two choices. Get busy living, or get busy dying," is a well-loved Steven King line from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. And I'm sure I could go on and on listing more, but you get the idea.
I think I fell in love with reading because it opened new worlds and took me to places where I had never been. I know that I enjoyed several beach reads and then when my cousin, aunt, and I went to the east coast and visited the Lowcountry region, I really enjoyed visiting Sullivan's Island and getting the chance to see things I had read about. I felt the same way when we went to New York City and visited famous landmarks. I can remember standing in one of the buildings on Ellis Island and wondering what ancestors of mine had stood in that spot and how they might have felt entering a new country and starting a new life.
I guess that sort of encompassed that traveling through time concept of the invisible shelf. Like my granddaughters, Linley and Luci, I sometimes enjoy historical fiction where book characters tell the story of events and encounters with people from the past. Of course, as I have grown older, I also enjoy reading biographies, memoirs and diaries written by people who lived through those historical periods and getting a first-hand perspective. Some of my favorite reads have been books written by people who were employed by the government and worked in the White House. Upstairs at the White House by J.B. West is a good read where the author tells about his life as chief usher at the White House. It was eye-opening to read Five Presidents by Clint Hill, a Secret Service agent and that really made me dig into other selections written by the same author and some biographies about former presidents. It sort of made me feel as if I was getting a behind the scenes look at my country's history.
I also like the idea that I have invisible shelves in my library which contain how-tos where I learned to do things via reading. There are times when I know I've read the how-to but can't quite recall how to do it, though. I guess I sort of wish I had a digital spreadsheet that is easily searchable to help me recall that information!
I learned to read before I even started school and I have loved it ever since. I was that kid who read the road signs when we were going somewhere and read the cereal boxes and everything in between. I have always loved reading and can think of nothing that I would prefer to do than read a good book. So, if I have invisible shelves, I know they are crammed pretty full of titles and information and there is no way I can recall all that I've read. I only wish everybody had the same opportunities to read and love reading like I've had.
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