Jennifer Graf Groneberg is the author of Roadmap to Holland (which I enthusiastically reviewed HERE).
In addition to blogging at Pinwheels, she also contributes book reviews to our sister site 5 Minutes for Special Needs.
I have a memory of being 9-years-old, sitting high up in a tree, eating a grilled Parmesan cheese sandwich, reading Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time . The dappled light coming through the leaves was tinged green and every so often, a breeze shook the canopy open, revealing a bright, white-hot ray of sunshine. It was surprising and exciting and joyful, all at once.
Those feelings have stayed with me, and whenever I read a truly good book—one that has the power to transport me away from my life and into another world—part of me is taking that journey back to the little girl I once was, the girl in the tree in love with books. That white-hot light shines down on me and I’m again filled with surprise and delight and excitement and joy.
And this, too: gratitude.
I’m grateful for this lasting love of books. It’s been with me since childhood, it’s sustained me through adolescence and young adulthood, it’s helped me through motherhood, and I’m sure it will be my crutch in old age.
When you hold a good book in your hands, you’re never bored, you’re never listless, and most importantly, you’re never alone.
The love of reading is one of the things I most grateful to God for.
I cannot imagine living without books! As a mom, I am grateful that my children seem to be developing the same love for reading that I have because you are right, you are never alone when you have a book!
Jennifer, I always treasure your thoughts. You have the power to transport me…just like a good book. 🙂
Thank you, everyone, and happy reading!
I SO wish for the luxuriant indulgence of being able to read as I did when I was a child. I still experience it occasionally–on vacation namely–but to just read page after page without regard for life’s responsibilities is truly a lovely thing.