River: I didn't think you'd come for me. Simon: Well, you're a dummy.

'Serenity'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Connie Neil - Sep 27, 2007 8:46:37 am PDT #4017 of 28222
brillig

I'd scrounge books wherever I could find them

That's how I discovered the home medical guide tucked in the corner of the bookcase and how I learned about the mechanisms of sex. We had an old bookcase full of 1950s Encyclopedia Britannicas that I wasn't allowed to mess with, or else I'd have been bookworming my way through those.


Jesse - Sep 27, 2007 8:48:23 am PDT #4018 of 28222
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

My only childhood reading issue is that I'd bring a book into the bathroom with me, and then get caught up in reading, so they thought I was constipated all the time. Nope! Just reading!


Kathy A - Sep 27, 2007 8:48:45 am PDT #4019 of 28222
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil

Shorewood finally opened a branch library in a storefront when I was ten or so, and it was only a mile or so away, so I could walk or ride my bike there. I started volunteering after going there so often that the librarian knew my name in a matter of days. I'd shelve, check out books, dust, whatever, to be able to hang around the room all day.

It was still fun heading to the downtown library on occasion--it had marble stairs and big marble columns in the entryway, and really tall ceilings. A very impressive building.


Strega - Sep 27, 2007 8:53:37 am PDT #4020 of 28222

I guess I remember a lot from childhood. Most of it is stuff that was scary or exciting or notable in some way, but there's a lot of random crap in there, too. Games we played at recess, odd conversations with other kids. I remember the names of my preschool teachers, but not what they looked like. They had those cool wooden train sets, though. I remember the train sets pretty vividly.

I think my mom would have liked me to have more friends, but I was never told not to read.
As is so often the case, Jessica is me. I think my mom would occasionally suggest putting the book down for five minutes while I emptied the dishwasher, because I'd be walking through the kitchen & dining room carrying plates in one hand and a paperback in the other. But I kept doing it anyway.


Frankenbuddha - Sep 27, 2007 9:06:30 am PDT #4021 of 28222
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

My only childhood reading issue is that I'd bring a book into the bathroom with me, and then get caught up in reading, so they thought I was constipated all the time. Nope! Just reading!

Heh, we used to refer to the bathroom as "the reading room" in my family (as in "Hey, I'll be in the reading room"). With 2 bathrooms for 8 kids (though that was only an issue during holidays due to the age differences) it could get tricky.

Which brings to mind a question: who else keeps a basket or other container of reading material in their bathrooms?


Connie Neil - Sep 27, 2007 9:07:08 am PDT #4022 of 28222
brillig

who else keeps a basket or other container of reading material in their bathrooms?

That's what the top of the dryer is for.


Fred Pete - Sep 27, 2007 9:23:40 am PDT #4023 of 28222
Ann, that's a ferret.

I got general "get your nose out of that book, go outside and play" as well as "no reading at the table." Parents didn't mind my reading in the car because I couldn't read and fight with my brother at the same time. Reading in the bathroom (but not in the bath) was tolerated as long as I didn't spend too much time.

No storage space for reading materials in a bathroom here.


DavidS - Sep 27, 2007 9:24:41 am PDT #4024 of 28222
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I tried to read while riding my bike.

That experiment didn't last long.


JZ - Sep 27, 2007 9:26:50 am PDT #4025 of 28222
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.

I successfully read while riding my bike, for almost a year.


Scrappy - Sep 27, 2007 9:27:01 am PDT #4026 of 28222
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

We have a basket that hooks onto the top tank of the toilet for magazines. Plus I take a bath almost every cool night (ultra dry skin--must get oil all over self--doctor's orders--lucky me!) and ALWAYS read in the tub. It's my most favorite thing.