Winter:1990/1991. I was a ski bum in Colorado. After work, most of the guys that worked the mountain at Beaver Creek would go to The Coyote Café. If you were a local, you got a mug with your number on it and it was dollar drafts all season. The Coyote was an interesting combination of hippy-infused, ski bum dudes and the well-heeled clientele who could afford to ski Beaver Creek on vacation. At some point, mid January, I am at the bar, talking to Billy, the bushy-haired bartender. As is the way in bars sometimes, I eventually wind up chatting up this woman as Billy walks away to help another patron. If I was 27 she was probably early 50’s. We got on famously, we chatted, animatedly for two hours. And the entire time, the stoners I worked with on the mountain, combined their brain cells to try to figure out what I was doing. I know this, because my companion and I could hear every word the shredders were saying. "Dude, what do you think Spinner’s doing? That chick’s gotta be twice his age."Man she’s really old. Do you think he’s actually attracted to her?"
"Man, somebody’s gotta stop him.”
At the end of our conversation, I tucked a bar napkin into my wallet and walked calmly back over to the guys.
“Yo, you got her number?”
“No.”
“You talked to her for two hours and you didn’t get her phone number?”
“Didn’t ask for it.”
“So what did she write down on that napkin?”
“Something better, a list of book recommendations.”
“I told you man, Spinner’s weird. He reads books.”
I thought that was an appropriate story to begin a blog about…Reading.
Ahhh, summer, time for unfettered reading time. That’s the second best thing about teaching. Of course I have to say, all that extra time I can spend with my family is number one on the list. That’s why I am in the local library typing on my lap top right now. The best thing about being a teacher, I get to read anything I want, all summer long.
What is it about reading that does it for so many of us? I can tell you, the second thing I packed for my honeymoon, was a stack of books, that’s how much I love reading. If I am buying a gift for someone I really care about, I will go to the bookstore and spend quality time to find just the right book. One of the best gifts I ever gave, (if I do say so myself) was for my buddy Jim Conroy and his wife Zoe. They got married right after 9/11, out in San Francisco. In an effort to do something thoughtful, I gave the newlyweds a Barnes & Noble gift certificate and enclosed a list of recommendations. Composing that list was a labor of love. I walked around the bookstore for 3 hours with a yellow legal pad and, with Jim and Zoe in mind, jotted down numerous titles I thought they would enjoy.
After I have chosen a book for someone, I become a literary pit bull. (It’s on my list of things I have to work on) I will hound them every time I see them, “So, did you read it yet?” A few years ago, in her continuing effort to better me, Kira (my wife) says, “Jim, don’t you think if they read it, knowing that you gave it to them, that they would say something without you asking?” So, I stopped asking.
Taking a class at Columbia a few summers ago, I like to put the Columbia thing in there because I have a state school guy’s insecurity. Truth is anyone could have walked in off the street and taken this class but I think it makes me sound smarter. “I was taking this class at Columbia….and the keynote speaker, in this huge, old, lecture hall walks over to the podium. She waits, and waits, while 800 teachers quiet down. Teachers are worse than the kids. When we are all quiet she says, “Writers write and readers read because they are searching for soul-to-soul contact.” Silence. In unison, 800 teachers shook our heads in the affirmative. I reached for my journal, to write down verbatim what she said.
She was right. That’s one of the reasons why I read, to feel less alone. I always think back to the first time I read a whole book in one night. (Besides anything featuring Curious George) I loved Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye because in the midst of my teen angst, here was Holden Caulfield, speaking the same language and feeling the same things I was feeling. At some point Holden talks about finishing a book and wanting to call the author on the phone. I knew what he was talking about because I wanted to call J.D. Salinger to tell him how much I loved his book.
Of course there’s more to it than soul-to-soul contact…I read to learn “stuff.” Knowledge is power and over the past 15 years or so, most of my reading has been non-fiction, it makes me feel like I am doing something worthwhile. I got hooked on non-fiction when I picked up a copy of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s No Ordinary Time. It’s narrative history about the FDR White House during WWII. That book is one of the reasons I became a history teacher.
We also read to see how others are playing the game of life and in turn to reflect on how we are playing the game. Isn’t it fun to read a biography of someone we admire, say Lou Gherig, and find similarities in our lives? Hey, the Iron Horse played stickball on the street just like we did! We make judgments of character’s actions. We put ourselves into the book’s situations and decide, what would I do if I were Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny stabbed the Soc?
We read to stir our emotions. Roddy Doyle is one of the few writers who can make me laugh so that fluids come out of my nose. I remember reading The Van on the F train on the way home from work during my Wall Street days. It’s about these bumbling, working–class, Irish guys who buy a delapidated fish and chips van. They hatch their capitalist scheme as Ireland is making a run in soccer’s World Cup. The protagonist and his compadre figure the entire country will be drinking and thus eating more fish and chips as Ireland continues to win soccer games. Picture Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton move to Ireland. Reading Doyle’s novella during my evening commute, I was snickering to myself and eventually burst out laughing. When I looked up, the other passengers were moving away and staring at me as if I might be deranged. Of course, having a looney on the subway would not be out of the question but I remember thinking, “You are all crazy, you should be reading this book, it’s that funny.”
We read to be sad…English teachers always talk about three dimensional characters, whatever that is. I liked Vonnegut’s advice to aspiring writers, “Give a reader at least one character to root for.” I love that! That’s what I am looking for. How can you not root for McMurphy against Nurse Ratched in Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? I cried at the end of Edwin O’Connor’s The Last Hurrah. That’s how much I cared. O’Connor created this fictional world, based on Mayor Curley’s old-ward Boston, where I really cared about the people in it. To think that he could do it so convincingly that I could be moved to tears, shows you how powerful these little paper rectangles are.
We read to live vicariously through others. I read to be a Kennedy, if for just a few hours. To be in the room with Jack and Bobby while they are deciding what to do with Castro and Kruschev during the Cuban missile crisis is enthralling. I read to be there when Paul McCartney meets John Lennon for the first time at the church fete. Talk about a moment, “This is my friend Paul, he plays a little guitar.” I read to explore the new continent with Lewis & Clark as they see the Great Falls of Montana for the first time. To be on the dunes at Kitty Hawk with the Wright Brothers and to climb Mount Everest with Jon Krakauer…
At the end of our conversation, I tucked a bar napkin into my wallet and walked calmly back over to the guys.
“Yo, you got her number?”
“No.”
“You talked to her for two hours and you didn’t get her phone number?”
“Didn’t ask for it.”
“So what did she write down on that napkin?”
“Something better, a list of book recommendations.”
“I told you man, Spinner’s weird. He reads books.”
I thought that was an appropriate story to begin a blog about…Reading.
Ahhh, summer, time for unfettered reading time. That’s the second best thing about teaching. Of course I have to say, all that extra time I can spend with my family is number one on the list. That’s why I am in the local library typing on my lap top right now. The best thing about being a teacher, I get to read anything I want, all summer long.
What is it about reading that does it for so many of us? I can tell you, the second thing I packed for my honeymoon, was a stack of books, that’s how much I love reading. If I am buying a gift for someone I really care about, I will go to the bookstore and spend quality time to find just the right book. One of the best gifts I ever gave, (if I do say so myself) was for my buddy Jim Conroy and his wife Zoe. They got married right after 9/11, out in San Francisco. In an effort to do something thoughtful, I gave the newlyweds a Barnes & Noble gift certificate and enclosed a list of recommendations. Composing that list was a labor of love. I walked around the bookstore for 3 hours with a yellow legal pad and, with Jim and Zoe in mind, jotted down numerous titles I thought they would enjoy.
After I have chosen a book for someone, I become a literary pit bull. (It’s on my list of things I have to work on) I will hound them every time I see them, “So, did you read it yet?” A few years ago, in her continuing effort to better me, Kira (my wife) says, “Jim, don’t you think if they read it, knowing that you gave it to them, that they would say something without you asking?” So, I stopped asking.
Taking a class at Columbia a few summers ago, I like to put the Columbia thing in there because I have a state school guy’s insecurity. Truth is anyone could have walked in off the street and taken this class but I think it makes me sound smarter. “I was taking this class at Columbia….and the keynote speaker, in this huge, old, lecture hall walks over to the podium. She waits, and waits, while 800 teachers quiet down. Teachers are worse than the kids. When we are all quiet she says, “Writers write and readers read because they are searching for soul-to-soul contact.” Silence. In unison, 800 teachers shook our heads in the affirmative. I reached for my journal, to write down verbatim what she said.
She was right. That’s one of the reasons why I read, to feel less alone. I always think back to the first time I read a whole book in one night. (Besides anything featuring Curious George) I loved Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye because in the midst of my teen angst, here was Holden Caulfield, speaking the same language and feeling the same things I was feeling. At some point Holden talks about finishing a book and wanting to call the author on the phone. I knew what he was talking about because I wanted to call J.D. Salinger to tell him how much I loved his book.
Of course there’s more to it than soul-to-soul contact…I read to learn “stuff.” Knowledge is power and over the past 15 years or so, most of my reading has been non-fiction, it makes me feel like I am doing something worthwhile. I got hooked on non-fiction when I picked up a copy of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s No Ordinary Time. It’s narrative history about the FDR White House during WWII. That book is one of the reasons I became a history teacher.
We also read to see how others are playing the game of life and in turn to reflect on how we are playing the game. Isn’t it fun to read a biography of someone we admire, say Lou Gherig, and find similarities in our lives? Hey, the Iron Horse played stickball on the street just like we did! We make judgments of character’s actions. We put ourselves into the book’s situations and decide, what would I do if I were Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny stabbed the Soc?
We read to stir our emotions. Roddy Doyle is one of the few writers who can make me laugh so that fluids come out of my nose. I remember reading The Van on the F train on the way home from work during my Wall Street days. It’s about these bumbling, working–class, Irish guys who buy a delapidated fish and chips van. They hatch their capitalist scheme as Ireland is making a run in soccer’s World Cup. The protagonist and his compadre figure the entire country will be drinking and thus eating more fish and chips as Ireland continues to win soccer games. Picture Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton move to Ireland. Reading Doyle’s novella during my evening commute, I was snickering to myself and eventually burst out laughing. When I looked up, the other passengers were moving away and staring at me as if I might be deranged. Of course, having a looney on the subway would not be out of the question but I remember thinking, “You are all crazy, you should be reading this book, it’s that funny.”
We read to be sad…English teachers always talk about three dimensional characters, whatever that is. I liked Vonnegut’s advice to aspiring writers, “Give a reader at least one character to root for.” I love that! That’s what I am looking for. How can you not root for McMurphy against Nurse Ratched in Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? I cried at the end of Edwin O’Connor’s The Last Hurrah. That’s how much I cared. O’Connor created this fictional world, based on Mayor Curley’s old-ward Boston, where I really cared about the people in it. To think that he could do it so convincingly that I could be moved to tears, shows you how powerful these little paper rectangles are.
We read to live vicariously through others. I read to be a Kennedy, if for just a few hours. To be in the room with Jack and Bobby while they are deciding what to do with Castro and Kruschev during the Cuban missile crisis is enthralling. I read to be there when Paul McCartney meets John Lennon for the first time at the church fete. Talk about a moment, “This is my friend Paul, he plays a little guitar.” I read to explore the new continent with Lewis & Clark as they see the Great Falls of Montana for the first time. To be on the dunes at Kitty Hawk with the Wright Brothers and to climb Mount Everest with Jon Krakauer…
We read to be inspired. How many times when I'm moaning because my 4 year old spilled another juice box in the car, and I am sitting in traffic, do I think to myself, Morrie Schwartz (from Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie) would love to be sitting in traffic, he would relish the chance to clean up another juice box spill. Here was a guy fighting a losing battle with Lou Gherig's disease and appreciating every day and every moment for what it was, something he was never going to get back.
We read to escape. We want to visit fanciful worlds, sometimes full of wizards, werewolves or vampires. That’s why Harry Potter and the Twilight series are so popular. Reading takes us away from the stresses and or the boredom of our humdrum lives as we join Bilbo on his quest.
To think that these little symbols on this white page can make us laugh, cry or hold our breath in suspense is nothing short of a miracle.
William Blake once said, and I am paraphrasing, “My wish for my granddaughter is that she will enjoy reading and writing as much as I did.”
A few friends asked me to do a post about reading. My friend Tracy said she wanted to know what books I would recommend. That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever asked of me. Maybe I don’t get that many compliments. So my friends thank you for reading my thoughts about, well Reading. Can I leave you with a few summer reading suggestions?…and then you can share yours with me?
Novels
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Trinity by Leon Uris
Memoir
We read to escape. We want to visit fanciful worlds, sometimes full of wizards, werewolves or vampires. That’s why Harry Potter and the Twilight series are so popular. Reading takes us away from the stresses and or the boredom of our humdrum lives as we join Bilbo on his quest.
To think that these little symbols on this white page can make us laugh, cry or hold our breath in suspense is nothing short of a miracle.
William Blake once said, and I am paraphrasing, “My wish for my granddaughter is that she will enjoy reading and writing as much as I did.”
A few friends asked me to do a post about reading. My friend Tracy said she wanted to know what books I would recommend. That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever asked of me. Maybe I don’t get that many compliments. So my friends thank you for reading my thoughts about, well Reading. Can I leave you with a few summer reading suggestions?…and then you can share yours with me?
Novels
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Trinity by Leon Uris
Memoir
The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer
Final Rounds by Jim Dobson
Final Rounds by Jim Dobson
Nonfiction
The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw
