Happiness is...an evening at book club.

I was able to go to book club this evening for the first time in months. What with vacation and coming home and getting sick and struggling to get back on top of things it's been awhile.  I've kept up on reading most of the books but just haven't been able to make it to a meeting.

I was reminded not only of how much I love books and reading but how much I love to talk about reading and books.  Sometimes it's great to talk to someone who is a non-reader, to explain to them the magic of finding just the right book or convince them to just give it a try (huge thanks to Harry Potter and Twilight and Hunger Games and the like for making reading a bit more mainstream and for crossing boundaries in gigantic ways...it's so fun to have conversations about the exact same book with a 10 year old, a 20 year old and a 50 year old!  You get such a great perspective that way!)

Sure, I get to push books on unsuspecting library patrons all day long but usually those conversations are brief, the plots boiled down to one or two sentences and it's rarely a hard sell.  Sometimes you just need to get in depth, discuss the intricacies of 'who dunnit' and why, share your favorite characters, laugh and cry over their various exploits, expound on what you might have done in their places, mourn when the book ends and re-live the best parts over and over in the re-tellings and sharings.

So, thank you ladies, for the laughter and the insights, the new ways of thinking, the book recommendations, the friendship and the food! (Btw, we read Cold Sassy Tree this month.  We loved the  quirky characters and southern vernacular.  You should have heard us all trying to imitate it!  Southern belles we are not!)

I came across this quote the other day from prolific children's author, Richard Peck. The dedication of his autobiography reads:

"I read because one life isn't enough, and in the page of a book I can be anybody;
I read because the words that build the story become mine, to build my life;
I read not for happy endings but for new beginnings; I'm just beginning myself, and I wouldn't mind a map;
I read because I have friends who don't, and young though they are, they're beginning to run out of material;
I read because every journey begins at the library, and it's time for me to start packing;
I read because one of these days I'm going to get out of this town, and I'm going to go everywhere and meet everybody, and I want to be ready."

I couldn't have said it better myself.  Go make a friend, live an adventure, make some magic, discover new worlds, be taught and uplifted, scared and entertained. READ!  (And don't forget to tell someone all about it!)