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For the Love of Books By SugarMagnolia in Touch of Grey July 1, 2009

Books, books, books. How lovely the sound. Fat books, skinny books, old books, new books. Shelves of books. Books as far as the eye can see! The local library? Yes, of course, but what I'm really speaking of is my home library.

I have always loved books. I learned to read very early, and haven't stopped since. On a recent trip back to my hometown of Houston, we passed the main public downtown library and instantly the memories came flooding back of the many lazy days my parents and I would spend there, just looking and reading, and deciding which books we would take home for further perusal. There was a limit, you know, of only a few at a time, and it was always so hard to narrow it down. In northeast Houston, where we lived, there was also a very nice branch library down the road, the Moody branch, that we would frequent as well. I can still well remember the layout of that library, especially the medical/science section to which I always gravitated when we walked through the door. I remember for some reason nearly every time checking out a book on glands and glandular functions; I couldn't get enough of that book. It just fascinated me. Strange kid, right? Yes, I suppose I was. Mother would head for the art section, of course, and dad could always be found in the military/history section. We would always leave with an armload each, and go home to read to our heart's content.

When I was very young, about 6 or so, mom and dad made a major purchase of a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica. I'm pretty sure they paid for that set over many years, but I never once heard them complain. That set went on a bookshelf in their bedroom, while the set of Junior Encyclopaedia Britannica (which likely came with their purchase) went on a shelf in my room. Honestly, I never read mine that much; theirs was much bigger and more interesting. I could be found many days sitting on their bed, just reading an encyclopedia front to back. My mother and father instilled a love of learning in me early on. Whenever I encountered a word I didn't know, my mother would say, "Look it up!", and so off I would go running to their room to look in their American Heritage dictionary. Funny thing about dictionaries, though - they're like Lay's potato chips - you can't look at just one word. Wonderful serendipity leads to so many other words; one winds up playing a type of leapfrog game through the book. So many words, so many discoveries!

Those encyclopedias and that dictionary now sit on my shelves in my own home library now; a library which reached its full capacity long ago. Truly, I am running out of room. There is my beloved science fiction section( heavy on the Isaac Asimov), a medical/laboratory science section, a criminal justice/law section, a large reference book section, dad's military and history book section, grandmother's paperback sci-fi section (heavy on the Andre Norton), and on and on. The children's books have now been relegated to a bookshelf in the game room, so as to free up a few shelves in the library which are now filled again. And dad is still bringing over books he is finding in his garage. Where to put them? Such a dilemma, but of course a sweet one, and one I secretly relish. I am so blessed to have had parents who took the time to read with me.

My grandparents and great-grandmother, affectionately known as Nannie, also spent much of our time together reading with me. When I would visit their homes, I knew I could count on some great reads, mostly in the form of pulp fiction and comic books. My grandmother would be well-stocked in scary comic books, such as Twilight Zone, Boris Karloff, Unexplained, Witching Hour, and on and on. Grandpa had all the westerns I could want, especially Zane Grey, and Nannie would have bags full of Archies, Richie Rich, and Casper the Friendly Ghost. How I loved spending the day reading with grandma, grandpa, and Nannie!

I remember a trading post of sorts on Berry road (or maybe it was Airline) in Houston we would frequent. It was called Ford's Books. Not only could you buy used books there, but you could trade books as well. Paperbacks, comics, anything was fair game. When we had read our stack of books and comics, we would just bring them back in and trade for more. Does your town have anything like this? I think every town should. I truly miss that place.

Books, books, books! Have you read any good books lately?

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