Each week during her Fall Reading Challenge (and the Spring one, too), Katrina at Callapidder Days asks a question about reading. She gives her answer and invites others to answer on their own blogs or in the comments.
This week’s prompt was
Share a special memory relating to books or reading — something you’ll never forget
Katrina shared two poignant and giving memories. Mine is a little more hedonistic.
 |
| The current road trip vehicle |
I think it was the summer of 1994. Terry and I had been married just over a year, and we drove from Houston to meet his family in Yellowstone National Park. He drove; I read.
I’ve always been a reader, but I know that there were some years when reading fell off, and perhaps this was one of those times, because my memories of that trip are tied to the pleasure of hour after hour of reading. I even remember what I read, though it was so long ago. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan was one, but the one that completely sucked me in and got me immersed into the pages was a first-reading of Gone with the Wind.
It was a mass market paperback, published before the slightly larger and sturdier trade paperbacks became so popular, so it seemed fragile — all those pages and all those years bound together between the pages of that flimsy cardboard.
I think it was because reading had lost its place in my life that I was so heartened by the many hours of reading I was able to do.
That road trip was only the first of many that we’ve taken over the years, whether it’s a “quick” 250 mile weekend trip to visit family or another cross-country jaunt. But because my husband prefers to drive (and I love the luxury of reading in the passenger seat), it’s become a tradition, and every road trip is always associated with a book that I’ve read.
What about you? What sort of meanings to you have tied to reading? Let us know in the comments, and go over to Callapidder Days to see what others have to say as well.
Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.
I too love Katrina’s questions. I used to take a suitcase of books with me on trips. Then we found a bed and breakfast in the Keys where I could exchange the books I’d brought with books left in my room. Now I own a Nook and can have hundreds at my fingertips to read. One year my first husband and I took our children to St. Augustine. When we had finished visiting the Oldest House in St. Augustine and learning about its owner “Maria” I found a book in their gift shop all about her. It was called “Maria” and was written by Eugenia Price. To me, visiting the historical place and then reading a book about it and its owner sealed the deal for me. It has become one of my favorite places to visit. I try to find a book when we visit historical places about that place. It keeps it alive for me.
It also introduces me to new authors.
I LOVE hotels and resorts that have lending libraries. It is always fun to see what I might discover.
I had been wanting to read Water for Elephants forever, and when it was on the shelf in a house we rented one winter, I knew that was the appointed time!
I love to read when we’re driving someplace whether it just a short trip to town or a cross country trip. I have gotten in trouble though when I was supposed to be navigating(pre GPS) and I was reading instead!
Oh, I love your memory! Though I admit that I remain jealous that you can read in the car. I get carsick within minutes if I even try. I’ve tried audiobooks, but usually the kids are feeling chatty, so that doesn’t work out too well.
I do have many fond memories of reading during vacations and road trips when I was a kid — before the onset of my carsick tendencies. It is a great time to get lost in a book. Thanks for sharing, and for the link!
Fortunately my kids can read in the car too, which is the only thing that cuts down on their chattiness 🙂 I know so many people who can’t read in the car, so I’m always very very thankful that I can.