Books. I like books. They are things that I like.
Books may seem to be a strange topic for me to cover on this site, but when you consider the amount of bookcases in my house it really isn't all that surprising.
And the truth is, as far as I'm concerned, reading a book is "doing stuff". And an enjoyable stuff at that.
I've loved reading since the beginning of time. The beginning of my time anyway. And ... if I may brag here for a moment ... I was reading books by the age of 4. I feel entitled to that little bit of bragging because I will also share with you the fact that I never did learn math. At all. When bank tellers and cashiers giving change count the money backwards to me, I just nod and pretend like I understand. I do not. Once when I was trying to convert an ingredient from "pounds" into "cups", my eyes started to bleed, plus I lost a tooth. It just fell right outta my head from the stress of the math. So ... I can't do math.
The book you see above, titled "Things I Like" is appropriately enough, the book that got me to like books. It's the first book I remember and I cannot thank my mother enough for saving it. Even though, since Betty isn't all that sentimental, she probably didn't save it on purpose, so much as she just never got around to throwing it out. The same way she never got around to throwing out that jar of mayonnaise that expired in Aug. '96.
When I look at this book and I hear the creak of the waxy, cardboard pages I'm a toddler again. I feel the same way I did then. I feel comfortable and content in the knowledge that all it really takes to make me happy is a picture of odd looking miniature stuffed animals sitting on wooden blocks. That's it. That's all I need. And an Espresso maker. But that is all. Plus I guess I nice cup to put the espresso in. And fresh mayonnaise in the fridge. And that is all. That is all I need.
And maybe a little more half decent programming on T.V. That is all.
From stuffed animals I moved onto ...
I wanted to be Flossie Bobbsey.
Exit Bobbsey Twins ... enter Laura Ingalls ... I now wanted to be Laura Ingalls. If you're a longtime reader of this site you know I still want to be Laura Ingalls. If you have not read this series you should read it. Yes. Even as a grownup.
I'm actually considering rereading the whole Little House on the Prairie series. It if makes me half as happy now as it did then I'll be ... well ... half as happy as I was then I guess. Uhhhh half as happy when I was half as old ... so ... Or would I be twice as happy, cause I'm twice as old as I was when I loved it 100%. Do I need to divide happiness into happiness? Ouch. Akkkkk! My tooth! See? Math.
Now somewhere in between the Bobbsey Twins and Little House on the Prairie I got my hands on this ... probably the most frightening book I've ever read.
My grandfather's medical textbook from 1927. I remember hiding in my parent's bedroom and looking at this book. It contains pictures of conditions and malformations that even TLC wouldn't broadcast. It was horrifying. But for some reason I was fascinated. I couldn't get enough of it. It was the perverbial trainwreck you can't look away from, in handy book form! This medical text is what led me to loving weird things. Oddities. Freaks.
It's why I own things like an alien in a jar. It's why there's a prosthetic leg in my basement and why I've toyed with the idea of making a wall hanging out of my leftover soup bones.
It's what led me to loving books that dealt with those very things. Creepy things.
By the time I got to Grade 6 while other kids were reading Tiger Beat, I was reading this ...
... and loving it.
So the next time you think that sitting around reading a book is a waste of time ... rethink that notion. Reading is doing stuff. It makes your brain spark in ways it can't without the help of a book. They make you think, learn and imagine.
I personally think books can mold and form a person in much the same way a parent can. By introducing them to things they didn't even know existed. If it wasn't for Laura Ingalls I wouldn't have been introduced to things like the joy of making your own butter, or the solitary peace of knitting at such a young age. And it's at that very young age that you develop who you are. You become you. Without the books I read as a child who knows what kind of person I might have become.
A mathematician perhaps.
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Pam'a
This sounds so... lame. I never read the LIW books when I was a kid, but came to love the TV series for all the same reasons as an adult.
Didn't anybody else read Golden Books? The Color Kittens? The Pokey Little Puppy? And my personal favorite, Little Cottontail?? [Maybe these are too ancient. I can also recall reading Little Black Sambo...Yeesh.]
p.s. And Karen, I had an epic tome too-- The Dog Encyclopedia! It was one of my dad's textbooks from vet school and I still have it-- Just for the way those old pages smell.
Michelle
I have tried to church butter. Laura made me want to try it and I did. No pretty little butter molds though but I really tried.... turns out cream is important (I was trying with milk)
My first huge chapter book was The Elfstones of Sharanara which ignited a large RPG geek streak in me that I have kept repressed and only let out during star trek conventions because I know its safe (definitely wont be the geekiest person in that crowd). Dean R Koontz or whatever he was freaked me out. The Blob. shudder.
Brenda
Oh Karen, you made me cry today, but in a good way. I ADORE books and am so thankful that my mom instilled in me a love of reading. My 4-year old daughter also loves reading and she is now enjoying my Richard Scarry books that I had as a child. Did you ever read the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books? My daughter is not quite ready for them, but I am telling her condensed versions of the stories at bedtime.
And I also agree with Anna about not using an e-reader...the weight and feel and turning the pages of a book is part of the whole experience.
You completely made my Friday, and it's only 9:48 AM...good job!!
Karen
Thank you so much Brenda! The truth is, I was a bit worried about writing a "book" post. I never know why people come to this site. Whether it's the writing, or the actual tutorials, or the design aspect. Writing about "books" seemed a bit off topic for me. What with not learning anything. But I guess it worked out! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it! ~ karen
Colette
I just had to tell you that your description of your math(in)ability made me laugh so much that although I didn't bleed, I peed ... just a little bit.
kim
How about Five Little Peppers?and Little Women? ALso some of my favorites. Actually I haven't read many books that I didn't like!! Oh and I have a confession to make.... I like math....don't hate me!
Jennifer
Can't believe people are just skipping right over The Bobbsey Twins! Epic! Also The Hardy Boys and The Boxcar Children. My siblings and I would play in our backyard for hours pretending our shed was a boxcar; pretty sure our long absences saved my mother's sanity. Thanks, Gertrude Chandler Warner.
And thank YOU, Karen, for the great trip down memory lane. (Not sure I have your stomach for scary reads, though. The Shining did me in...)
Joanne
LOL! I love books and hate math too. I've always been a reader and it breaks my heart that only 1 of my 3 offspring loves to read. I think the other 2 might have been switched at birth.
Anna
I am also a book lover, and cannot imagine using one of those e-readers. I love the feel, the smell, everything about the real thing! I just don't have as much time to read as I would like, it always seems to be put off until the end of the day, and then I fall asleep after only a few pages. Need to rearrange my priorities!!!!
Lisa
Trixie Belden! I think I still have all the books too.
Also, what was that book with the children locked in the attic? It was quite scandalous at the time, and I think it put me off the creepy horror books. It was around the same time period, since we're about the same age.
Allison
I swear I love cooking and food just because of the Little House books. I have not read them since I was a kid, but I can still remember vivid food descriptions that they talked about, and how incredibly good and SIMPLE everything sounded. In the Farmer Boy book..a baked potato cooked just by putting the potato into the fire, and how it exploded and the "mealy insides" hit someone...OMG I loved those books...I will make that a resolution to read them all again...the heck with 365 days of pictures and cleaning out closets..you are right! That is "doing stuff" I will read them all...I hope I love them again as much as I did then..thanks
Angela
Anne of Green Gables is my most favorite series ever! I could read them over and over again and want to live in that white farmhouse in PEI.
Norell
I remember learning to read as my Mom did dishes. Every night after dinner, I would sit at the table and read Dr. Suess books out loud while she did dishes. "Sound it out, sound it out........", were words I heard over and over again. The first book I remember reading is The Pink Dress. I loved that book so much and haven't stopped reading since then.
I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder, Cherry Ames, Nancy Drew and any biography I could get my hands on. When I found the scary stuff, I was in heaven & still read murder mysteries constantly, but I will read just about anything, anytime.....Karen Slaughter, Stephen King, Lee Child, Jonathan Kellerman, etc... I think I will ignore my laundry and read for a while now!!
Joni N.
I'm such a book hound! Love books! Generally, I have 3 or so going at once. Instead of the Bobbsey Twins, I was totally into Nancy Drew -- think I read the entire series. Huge fan of Little House as well. My mom sewed my sister and me prairie girl dresses, and we pretended to be Laura and Mary all the time. I cannot wait to read it to my two little girls.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one that gets apoplectic around numbers. Sheesh. I really suck with math.
Ran
Oh books, they are wonderful things. Never fear though, you aren't completely unsalvageable until you're like me and have your home library catalogued in the Dewey Decimal System (22nd edition t.y.v.m!).
I also am absolutely terrible at math and am convinced it is people such as I that calculators were made for.
Nancy
Hahahaha!!!! Oh my gosh SO FUNNY. I'm the same way! Love books hate math. I lose teeth too! Haha!!
Renee
I loved the 'Little House' series, too! Except I didn't want to be Laura Ingalls, I wanted her to time-travel so I could show her all of our modern conveniences :)
Speaking of modern conveniences, about your math problem... Wolfram Alpha could become your best friend. It does math for you!
See: Ounces to cups http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=16+oz+to+cups
Money - even Canadian :)
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=C$20.00+-+C$4.57
and lots more...
http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/
joh
My rule: You can never have too many books or kitchen utensils.
Caitlyn
I love the Little House series! I was reminded of it recently when cooking with bacon ends and scraps - felt like I was frying a pig tail! Maybe you could show us how to make a ball out of a pigs bladder. . . ;)
Alexandra
Reading is love. I love to read. The amazing thing is, I didn't know how much I loved to read until I got out of school and was able to read whatever the hell I wanted to read. Instead of being forced to read books like Billy Budd that make me want to die. And then when you have tests that ask you questions like "What was the color of Billy Budd's shirt on page 28," you start to learn that reading = boredom alllll the way to death.
But then I got out of school and started wondering why serial killers are the way they are, so I bought a non-fiction book about serial killers. Yay, homicidal maniacs. Then I progressed to the infamous "Law of Attraction" books like the Secret. OOH. Yay, I can attract all the things I want into my life with the powers of mind waves!!! Then I had a 25-book bout with historical romance novels. Yay, curricles!
Finally, I am at a place in my reading phase where I have a nice balance of non-fiction and fiction. Anything and everything, including lots of blogs.
Not sure what kind of person this has shaped me into though...it can't be good.
You know, I could make blog posts out of my comments to your blog. You invoke too much thought in me, Karen.
Kat
Litte house is my pickles and ice cream! Everytime I'm pregnant (I have three children) I CRAVE little house have read the whole series. Luckily I received the set as birthday gift many years ago. I do have to go to the library for "On The Banks Of Plum Creek" because I was reading it in my roof-less treehouse and left it overnight on what turned out to be a rainy night. Not sure I learned my lesson because I know read them in a bubble bath (but not in the shower!).