Open Thread: Book it!
I’ve loved reading ever since I was a kid. I even read cereal boxes at the table. One of my clearest childhood memories was the day my mom took me to get a library card.
It felt holy, like I was in book church – which in a sense, I was. The librarian brought me a huge (to tiny me!) old book, opened it, and asked me to read aloud the promise written at the top of each page: to return books on time, to respect the books by not writing in them or tearing them, and to return them in the same condition I got them. Then she asked me to sign my name, and gave me a temporary card. I was in!
I signed up for the adult section as soon as I could. I brought “must reads” on every family vacation – Steinbeck and Heinlein, Dickens and Thackeray.
My most formative reading happened when I discovered the Humor section. It became my personal mission to read every single book there: Mark Twain, S. J. Perelman, Ogden Nash, James Thurber, Robert Benchley, Will Cuppy and many others.
Those books lifted me out of the challenges I faced at the time. They still do! The humor section of my personal library is still growing. Besides essays by Dave Barry, David Sedaris, or Steve Martin, I’ve got a small collection of comic novels. The current favorite is Tepper isn’t Coming Out by Calvin Trillin – the hilarious saga about parking in New York City.
But how about you? What do you read when you need a lift? Let us know in the comments!
Attention, book lovers! On Thursday, April 14th at 4:30pm EDT the Senior Planet Book Club will host Vaseem Khan, author of their current book, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, via Zoom. Learn more about Mr. Khan here. Need more info? Click here for details and…if you haven’t gotten your copy yet? Click here to get yours
Virge Randall is Senior Planet’s Managing Editor. She is also a freelance culture reporter who seeks out hidden gems and unsung (or undersung) treasures for Straus Newspapers; her blog “Don’t Get Me Started” puts a quirky new spin on Old School New York City. Send Open Thread suggestions to editor@seniorplanet.org.
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