From: maggie_bo at comcast.net <maggie_bo>
Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 22:51:55 +0000

Just to clarify what I mean--I absolutely love books with passion too, and I also have the experience of not being able to have "normal conversations" because I am so wrapped up in my book of the moment. I have never thought of myself as losing my love for reading in any way over the years. It's a different, not lesser, kind of passion. It's hard to put the difference into words. It is almost as if my sense of self is so solid now, that there is a boundary between me and whatever characters I am reading about. As a child, my identity was more fluid--when reading A Wrinkle in Time, I was Meg. When reading Anne of Green Gables, I was Anne. Now, I connect with characters, but I do not become them. The exception is that sometimes I can reclaim that feeling when I reread books I read as a child (such as Wrinkle)--it is like reclaiming part of my former self. Perhaps that's why so many of us have such strong feelings for the favorite books of our childhood, whether life-changing
 or life-enriching.

Maggie

-------------- Original message -------------- From: Amy Timberlake <amy_timber13 at sbcglobal.net>

>
> On May 25, 2006, at 12:00 PM, ccbc-net-
> request at ccbc.education.wisc.edu wrote:
>
> >
> > No, Mary, it's not just you. I think that's one big reason why I
> > wish I had read certain books when I was younger--much as I still
> > love reading, it isn't the same now. There are still times I read
> > a book and find myself thinking about it all day, so much so that
> > it can for a time seem more important than my "real" life. Yet, I
> > don't think I ever completely lose my grip on reality while reading
> > a book the way I did when I was younger. As I write this--and I've
> > never formulated this thought before--I think one of the main
> > reasons I am attracted to children's literature is because of that
> > special relationship between reader and book that exists when the
> > reader is NOT an adult.
> >
> > Maggie
>
> Oh no! I don't agree that there is a special relationship between
> reader and book when the reader is a child. As an adult, I swear to
> you that I love books with passion! (And have had moments where I
> felt my reality is altered, where I feel dizzy putting down a book,
> where I can't have conversation normally until the book's spell wears
> off -- truly.) I have to tell you though that these days I try to
> keep reading fun and to keep the critic away from what I'm reading (I
> used to be a reviewer, and am now writing fiction, and that makes it
> hard sometimes to read books for pleasure). So I always try to
> allow myself books for pleasure -- and sometimes I go for stretches
> of months not reading anything but what I absolutely want to read.
> It helps recapture the magic, the passion! And I read everything --
> mysteries, genre, nonfiction -- whatever captures my fancy. And when
> a book loses my atttention I put it down and try not to give it
> another thought. I don't care if people have said the book is
> "important" or the author won some big award. I mean, there are so
> many good, wonderful books in the world, all you have to do is pick
> up another one.
>
> I don't know whether that helps or not, but I truly believe you can
> read books with great passion -- even the same passion as you did as
> a child! Reading is such a great pleasure!
>
> Go readers go! Enjoy it!
>
> Amy Timberlake
> amy_timber13 at sbcglobal.net
> www.amytimberlake.com
> That Girl Lucy Moon (Hyperion)
> The Dirty Cowboy (FSG)
>
>
>
>
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Received on Thu 25 May 2006 05:51:55 PM CDT