I'll start with my favourite quote from my favourite book:
"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."
Like air, books have been a given in my life. They have never been something to question or dispute- they've just been there. A constant reassuring presence, much like the recurring episodes of Friends on TV. My parents raised me to believe that one could never have too many books. They advocated reading and I soon learnt that of all my numerous requests("But I HAVE to have the latest roller skating Barbie! Her knees BEND for God's sake!") books would never be denied. Never.
They became part of my diet. Books were the sixth addition to my five a day, and I devoured them. What I was reading almost didn't matter. Although my breadth of interests didn't stretch quite as far as Matilda's (my childhood hero) I was happy to read any genre as long as it gripped me. And through this discovery of'ask and ye shall receive a book,' I soon built up quite a number. My dad in particular was keen to increase my classics collection and I was the proud owner of 'The Pickwick Papers', 'Don Quixote' and 'The Three Muskateers' before I was ten.
So as someone who considers Waterstones to be their home away from home, I have struggled to contain my frustration when greeted with teenagers dismissing reading as 'boring.' BORING! Granted, I have struggled through some texts that are overladen in details and quell any opportunities for imagination. Those, were boring. But I highly doubt the kids I was talking to had attempted to read 'Moby Dick' and/or 'War and Peace.' What, exactly, are they finding boring?
Some of the problem lies in what they've been doing instead of reading; namely, watching TV. Now I love TV, don't get me wrong. It is the quickest and easiest way to switch off and be entertained. Thought is unnecessary, as is any active participation. You are served your information on a shiny 46plasma platter, and you really don't need to do anything other than blink.
Reading, on the other hand, requires a little more of you. When you open the front cover of a book, you agree to create a world. Although the author has put the words on paper, you, the reader make the people. You make the buildings, the places, the relationships, the feelings, the twists, the lives, the highs, the lows, the story. My favourite thing about reading? Not one person will have imagined Hogwarts in the same way and everyone will have their own Mr.Darcy. A book is a personal escape that no two people will ever share in the same way.
Unfortunately for kids today, reading has gotten tangled up in the ugly term 'literacy,' and literacy sucks. Literacy means learning things you have to because grown ups say so and because one day you'll need to get a job in order to earn money and pay bills and do other sucky grown up stuff. Bleurgh! With literacy strategies being shoved down kids throats along with Dickens and Shakespeare, no wonder TV and Xbox and iPhones have taken over; reading's no fun if it's compulsory! What's the point of an escape if you're being given no choice but to go there? What are you escaping then?
I can't imagine my life without books, much like I can't imagine the absence of air. Both are constant, both are necessary. I recently re-discovered just how much I rely on books when I met a few like minded people and we all agreed to live in a book house. What better haven could there be than one made up of different worlds and universes, able to be dipped into with just the turning of a page? The inception of this book house, and the discussions surrounding it, have sent me back to Waterstones and back into my beloved world of books. It's given me ideas and projects, both in my work and personal life. For example, I plan to take future students on annual trips to book shops just so they can experience the joy of browsing and picking a book that actually interests them. Also, I'm going to start gifting people books on every occasion. Along with the compulsory scarf and/or bath product, people can expect to receive a book from me at Christmas and on birthdays etc without fail.
Ideas like this might seem a little romantic or idealistic. My want to push reading onto people may be totally misguided and ultimately doomed to fail. But if it works for one personIf one kid finds that book in Waterstones and can't put it down. If they then get the next in the series, and the one after that. If they tell their friends who then read it too. If they go on to tell others and eventually this whole new group of readers has been born ? Well, if that's my only contribution to the world, a few more contented readers, I'll be very happy indeed.
I started this post with a quote, so I might as well end it with one. 'Bookend' it, you might say:
"If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!"
Wise words, kids.
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