INSPIRASUNS

Today’s little blog is something a tad different. My sister-in-law, whose husband, my brother-in-law Mac, passed away last September, is a writer. She’s getting back into it slowly, and I’m so glad to see that she is. We all process grief differently, and it takes time, much time. If we can allow ourselves to do things that bring joy to the brokenness we feel, that is a small step towards healing.

Yesterday, she sent me this article she wrote. We’ve been texting over the past week about an old book that was special to the McQueen clan as they were growing up. You’ll read about it in this article. I asked her if I could share this article in the little blog today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and the message, well, it is so important these days.

Books are a Uniquely Portable Magic

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” Writer Stephen King. A quote has never been so true as this.

Today, I’m reminding you how special a book is.  As American academic Charles W. Eliot said, “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”

I’m not advising what genre, what device, or what audio to use.  Just make sure that you take the opportunities and the adventures that reading brings. Choose what is best for you and then DO IT!

Books were always important in my life growing up.  I can remember sitting on Grampa Moore’s lap as he read the Little Golden Book, “J. Fred Muggs.” J. Fred Muggs was a chimp that cohosted with Dave Garroway on the “Today” show in the 1950’s.  Grampa and I would watch the news….well, he watched the news as I sat transfixed by a chimp eating pencils. It didn’t take much to entertain me.  After that stimulating news report, he would willingly read my J. Fred book… once.  So, I had to listen at full attention.

Brother Jim, who was two years older than me, was more lenient with his time. He read The Little Golden Book, “When Bunny Grows Up,” to me ad nauseam. I never tired of it. He was a great big brother who would read me anything from Little Golden Books to Davey Crockett to Roy Rogers.  Thank you, Jim.

On my Mac’s side, one of their favorite books was “The Biggest Bear” by Lynd Ward.  Mac was the oldest, and he would endlessly read it to his baby brother, Bob. His little twin siblings would take the book around the neighborhood, reading to any hapless neighbor that would enter the tiny tyke’s world of the love of reading for a few minutes.  All these years later, they remember the joy of reading to these doting people and the patience and time the adults allowed them.  They also recall fondly being rewarded with lemon drops.  What a wonderful childhood memory.

My children loved Dr. Seuss, “Hop on Pop”.  That’s about the only Suess book I could read repeatedly.  I think his writing is rather daft, but my boys loved him.  Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” was another of their favorites. I thought it rather frightening, but the boys found it fierce and wonderful. They went on to read it to their children.

If you want to get into a riotous reading regime…. Richard Scarry’s books with the little gold bug hidden on the pages will get your heartbeat going.  “Cars and Trucks and Things That Go” would be slapped out of my hands as the boys tried to be the first to find and smack the elusive gold bug.  It never got old.

“Good Nigh Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Clement Hurd, still sits between my Bible and my prayer book in my headboard bookcase.  Its pages are smudged, bent, and tattered.  Sometimes I just hold it and let it transcend time and feel the sleepy little heads on my chest as I read to them and hear their little boy voices drowsily repeating the memorized words. 

It’s as if these books are speaking and transferring us back to the best of the best of our childhoods.  Not only did they enhance our youth, but gave us warm fuzzy memories forevermore.

Have you ever wondered, when you have a library book… where has it been? Who read it before you? The coffee stains and bent corners never bother me.  It makes me wonder why those marks appeared.  Was the story so poignant that tears dripped down the reader’s face, his hand trembled, and he spilled his coffee?  Was the reader laughing so hard that the coffee spilled while she was in a fit of giggles?  Did the bent corner appear because a purring cat jumped in the bibliophile’s lap and knocked it on the floor? Was the bookworm startled back into the real world by an emergency, and the book went flying?

Every book has a story within a story inside its covers. As many people say, “If only these walls could talk.”  I think that of every book I hold in my hands.

Author John Green, “Books are the ultimate dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them, and they always love you back.”

J.K. Rowling, “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.”

There are so many varieties. I love murder mysteries.  The who-dunnit books.  I’m disappointed if I figure it out too soon.  I’m humiliated if I didn’t see it coming, and the conclusion seems so obvious.  What fun!

My Mac would read nothing but true history, biographies, or autobiographies.  Well…that’s what he said, but I caught him more than once in science fiction.  “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams was one of his favorites.  He could read Stephen Hawking books without getting bleary-eyed, yet Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov novels are in his library.

He had WWII airplane books and hot rod car books all over the house.  My contribution to the chaos was gardening books, writer’s books, and cookbooks.  A trip to the bookstore was a special adventure for us, and we had to hold each other accountable.  It’s hard to think about budget while within the walls of a bookshop.

It doesn’t matter if it’s an old bookstore or a new bookstore.  The lure of the written word is something I cannot deny. Especially as I age and my body slows, my love affair with books grows.  Writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, “That’s the thing about books.  They let you travel without moving your feet.”

So, my message today is to READ.  Read to yourself.  Read to others who can’t….either young or old.  Read to laugh. Read to learn.  Read to discern.  Books talk.  Listen to them.

L. Maxine McQueen may be contacted at maxmac.1@juno.com

I’ll close by adding my own book recommendation; it’s an old story. Dig into the Bible, my friends, you’ll be glad you did.

Have a wonderful day, everyone. Continued prayers for healing for you, sweet Lois.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.