Reading Love Two Ways

       I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community today. It's always a pleasure to read what everyone writes about their lives.

         

Among other books, I am currently reading The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald. 

She writes: "Books are fantastic and probably come into their own in a cabin in the woods {referring to Thoreau's Walden}, but how fun is it to read a fantastic book if you can't tell others about it, talk about it, and quote from it constantly?" This started my thought path back to the classroom, thinking about how many times this "talking about it" happened. Sometimes it was spontaneous when a group would gather at a "best books" shelf because someone asked for some recommendations (not only my 'best' books but class members, too). Often it was a group meeting when emotions were high from a particularly hard passage, or high from total disagreement about a scene or a character. Nearly everyone read a book a week unless it was extra long, and on Friday afternoons we sat reflecting about the week, and sharing what  we were reading. We talked about other books by the same author. We spoke of times we wanted to throw the book across the room, or the times we needed to take a break because we could see that a terrible thing was coming. The conversation was often rich, often silly, and I'm glad we did it. 

         However, there was also that time when we read, then read some more, alone.That too seemed good. We relaxed after a vigorous work morning, had lunch and afterward we read. Students sat on the carpet, leaned against walls, stayed at their desks, lay on the floor. Sometimes I thought I could tell when a tense moment had arrived. The reader moved, perhaps sat up, turned over, went to get a drink. But they read, and I could see it was love happening. 

         I do like Bivalds's quote, and there are times when I read I would love to share a page, a few words, so I am sharing today with this community. I just had to share this quote!

photo credit: DesEquiLIBROS lectura reading via photopin (license)