Three healthy reasons to add reading to your routine:
I have always thought reading was a little bit of everything good… it is also very sexy… it implies a certain level of intellectual capacity, some imagination and the ability to be storied…
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gorgeous_qtr/2392465041/
Source: http://guyonysus.tumblr.com/post/1517129034/reading-is-sexy
Source: http://jszolliker.com/2009/06/reading-is-sexy-i/
Source: http://somethingintellectual.tumblr.com/post/1221041904
Over the holidays I had the pleasure of reading Tom Standage’s A History of the World in 6 Glasses aloud with my family.
This book was fascinating! It really did correlate world history to beverages and did so in a way that made me feel almost as if I should have already thought of it myself. This is an easy and interesting way to learn about the world’s history—how societies began, developed, changed, improved and ended; how societies interact and grow from random discoveries and purposeful innovations made by both their own society and others; even how societies treat their own members in regards to social class, gender, economic status etc.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses covers history from the Stone Age to the twenty-first century seen from the bottom of these six glasses: Beer, wine, spirits (alcohol), coffee, tea and coca-cola. And the author has done his research! It is filled with fascinating facts and a clear explanation of how these beverages really did play an important role in history. I will end my review with a quote from the book to further entice you to read it,
Understanding the ramifications of who drank what, and why, and where they got it from, requires the traversal of many disparate and otherwise unrelated fields: the histories of agriculture, philosophy, religion, medicine, technology, and commerce.
Click on this link to purchase A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage.
Ohhhhh! Two of my favorite things… reading and doing something positive… have now been combined.
We Give Books was created by the Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation.1
Easy-peasy. You go to their website http://www.wegivebooks.org/ and you choose from one of the campaigns, sign up, read the FREE books online to yourself, to others, to anyone who will listen. Read them once, read them twice, read them a dozen times over. Each time you read a book, a book is donated to the campaign you chose. So simple, so thoughtful, so fun.
SO! What are your waiting for? Go read a couple books tonight… they are not difficult reads. A few of my favorites were School Days Around the World by Catherine E. Chambers, Ladybug Girl by Jacky Davis and David Soman, and Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. The first is a compilation of stories depicting a typical day at school for 7 different children in 7 different countries. It was interesting to read how similar school is for children around the world and how it is different. The second was about a little girl who is all dressed up like a ladybug and is left to her own devices for entertainment… which she achieves with style. The last is a familiar story to many in a series of Llama Llama books. It is cute particularly when read out loud with animation. I read this one to everyone right before they went to bed…
I read each and every book offered so far at least once. And I even read aloud to teenagers and my dearest friend! =) Hahahaha… but they enjoyed it. I intend to read them again and again and read all the new ones (until they make me stop!) I think this is a great cause and want to be part of it! =) Join the fun… you know you want to!
Listening is an act of love, originally uploaded by allicette.
As part of my summer reading aloud shtick I chose a book of short, inspiring stories. I figured they were easier to follow and would keep everyone’s attention because when you are reading a book with 3 other people–over the age of 14–it is difficult to find a time and to keep everyone engaged. I chose, Listening Is an Act of Love: A celebration of American life from the Storycorps project edited by Dave Isay. This is the second ‘Storycorps‘ compilation I’ve read and I just loved it! We all did.
Storycorps is ‘the largest oral history project in the nation’s (United States) history’.1 From their website,
StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 30,000 interviews from more than 60,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to our weekly broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition and on our Listen pages.
The heart of StoryCorps is the conversation between two people who are important to each other: a son asking his mother about her childhood, an immigrant telling his friend about coming to America, or a couple reminiscing on their 50th wedding anniversary. By helping people to connect, and to talk about the questions that matter, the StoryCorps experience is powerful and sometimes even life-changing.
Our goal is to make that experience accessible to all, and find new ways to inspire people to record and preserve the stories of someone important to them. Just as powerful is the experience of listening. Whenever people listen to these stories, they hear the courage, humor, trials and triumphs of an incredible range of voices.
“By listening closely to one another, we can help illuminate the true character of this nation reminding us all just how precious each day can be and how truly great it is to be alive.
Dave Isay,
Founder, StoryCorps
This book is a compilation of stories from these interviews. I think we cried through the majority of them, not sad tears, mostly heartwarming… inspired tears. This is a book filled with the stories of real Americans. We are not Jersey Shore, Jerry Springer or any other reality TV. We are everyday people whose lives revolve around family, love, hard work and kindness. We are motivated by the genuine desire to take care of our families and to make a friend smile. These stories highlight what is really important to people in this country.
The essence of America lies not in the headlined heroes… but in the everyday folks who live and die unknown, yet leave their dreams as legacies. — Alan Lomax, 1940
This book is filled with stories of home and family, work and dedication, journeys, history and struggle, fire and water. From the personal tale of loves found, loves lost, loves and families sustained to the overwhelming support of the NPR Storycorps listeners comforting an-amazingly-loved widow…it is the extraordinary life stories of everyday people. The Storycorps project really is profound, this excerpt explains perfectly how important it is for people to be heard, to be acknowledged,
[A man who lived in 'a flop house on the Bowery in New York City, where homeless men slept in prison-cell-size rooms covered in chicken wire for as little as five dollars a night'] looked at his story, took it in his hands, and literally danced through the halls of the old hotel shouting, “I exist! I exist!” [Dave Isay] was stunned. [He] realized as never before how many people among us feel completely invisible, believe their lives don’t matter, and fear they’ll someday be forgotten.
The book is perfect to read aloud with others. Read it with your family, with friends, with your loved ones. It should be required reading in American history classes. These are the stories no one puts in texts. These are the stories no one makes a hollywood movie about but should!
I would definitely recommend Listening Is an Act of Love to anyone. And I would also urge you to be a part of Storycorps, record your story, record your wife’s or husband’s story. Record your neighbor’s story. Help make history more real for future generations. And it may just change your life…
(20/1000)
I am a big fan of Carlos Ruiz Zafon. He is an engaging writer who keeps me captivated by his way with words. He mesmerizes with his story, weaving you into his fictional worlds.
The Prince of Mist was not his best piece but it was good and easy to read. I read it out loud to someone else in no time at all. And we both enjoyed it. As he writes in a note to the readers this was his first novel written in the beginning of his career. It is not as poetic or as developed as his later works, The Shadow of the Wind or The Angel’s Game, but it is still worth the read.
The Prince of Mist is a forward moving book compelling you to eagerly dive into each new chapter. You genuinely want to know what happens next on every page. It is slightly predictable but this is true of many good books. Overall, the story was interesting, the characters likeable and believable. It was a mystery, a ghost story, a lesson about the costs in making a deal with the devil. Nothing in this life is free.
If you haven’t read Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s work before this is a good place to start. It only gets better from here.
Anatole France, born Jacques Anatole Francois Thibaut, was a bibliophile. He was one of France’s most memorable authors, learned to love books very early in his life because he was given the opportunity to do so. Anatole France had the good fortune of being surrounded by books as the child of a bookstore owner. His father ran the Librairie France (Library of France) in Paris, France. It is said that many a notable scholar and writer would visit his father’s book store regularly and undoubtedly this literary passion rubbed off on Anatole France for he learned to love books as much as any one could. His literary pseudonym was fashioned after the name of his father’s shop, the Librairie (Library) de France. After college Anatole France helped his father at the bookstore before going on to become a library cataloger, a librarian and then a Nobel Laureate poet, author and journalist.
Anatole France’s love for books began with exposure to books at a very early age. As a child, he had full access to an assortment of reading material. This is absolutely vital to ensuring a child’s interest in reading. We must ensure they are surrounded by an array of books to choose from and actively promote the love of literature so we ensure the Anatole France’s of our future exist!
“The essential point is that students should have easy access to a wide variety of books…” (Becoming a Nation of Readers, U.S. Department of Education’s Commission on Reading, 1988)
It is our responsibility to envelope children in a plethora of literary choices. Take them to the library. Take them to each and every library within driving and walking distance. Take them to book stores. Read with them. Read with their friends. Be a book pusher. And help a new Anatole France be literarily nourished into existence.
When you see the personal library of Anatole France, you can clearly see the remnants of his childhood fortressed in books. His love for books was cemented very early in life…
Anatole France owned an impressive library for this time period! (Photo Source: Le Bibliomane Moderne)
“Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent to me” – Anatole France
Crow Call by Lois Lowry (the book shown)
There are many benefits to reading aloud both for the reader and the listener, regardless of the ages of either! Reading to children and having them read to you helps improve or develop:
But reading aloud can benefit adults too. It is a great time to bond with someone over something you both enjoy. It can spark excellent, indepth conversations helping improve or reassert strong relations. It can help bring up a topic that is not always easy to discuss. It helps keep minds active and imaginations soaring. Reading aloud helps you stay informed about the world around you. It also helps exercise the throat and the lungs (working the diaphragm !) Adults also receive the same benefits from reading as children.
Reading aloud can help relax all people involved, the reader and the listeners. It is a general overall feel good activity which improves so many areas of life and stimulates your brain! So, go ahead… try it! Make a comittment to read aloud once or twice a week… to anyone willing to listen and / or ask someone to read to you. Then come back and tell me below… what extra benefits you and they receive from both sides.
Crow Call by Lois Lowry (book shown)
