Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Gratitude: The Pleasures of Reading

Today, I am grateful for:

The ability to read. I just finished reading my friend Keith Ferrell's lovely piece in Aeon, an online Brithsh magazine (here). This is a simple, thoughtful piece of writing that I'd say ventures over into serious literature because Keith is capable of doing that. He's one of the few writers I know--and I know a lot of writers--for whom literature is within reach.

Time was, I couldn't have read this piece by Keith and would have been--was--poorer for it. As a kid, my attention was diverted easily and I didn't read. I'd been a professional writer for seven years before I finished reading my first book (Tarzan of the Apes). I got drunk for 25 years and didn't read then, either.  I was still writing for a living, but not reading. I often grinned, dismissed any criticism and said, "Hemingway didn't read" without finishing the sentence with "but I'm not Hemingway."

After getting sober a few years ago, I set to reading and it became an obsessive, compulsive game of "how many can I read in a month?" That wasn't much good, either, because I was frantically trying to play catch-up. But it moderated and now I can read a book or stream a video and enjoy both. It is a lovely feeling, the option to read. And it's mine now. Permanently, I hope.

(Graphic: finebooksmagazine.com)

2 comments:

  1. شركة نقل عفش
    اهم شركات مكافحة حشرات بالخبر كذلك معرض اهم شركة مكافحة حشرات بالدمام والخبر والجبيل والخبر والاحساء والقطيف كذلك شركة رش حشرات بالدمام ومكافحة الحشرات بالخبر
    شركة مكافحة حشرات بالدمام
    شركة تنظيف خزانات بجدة الجوهرة من افضل شركات تنظيف الخزانات بجدة حيث ان تنظيف خزانات بجدة يحتاج الى مهارة فى كيفية غسيل وتنظيف الخزانات الكبيرة والصغيرة بجدة على ايدى متخصصين فى تنظيف الخزانات بجدة
    شركة تنظيف خزانات بجدة
    شركة كشف تسربات المياه بالدمام
    شركة نقل عفش واثاث

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