As this is the inaugural post of the Mia the Reader blog, I should probably start by saying:
Hi! I’m Alana — mom of little ones, reader of books, scribbler of words.
No, my name’s not Mia. But that’s all explained on the About page.
Did I mention I like books? I really love books. Sometimes I feel guilty when I consider how much time I’ve spent reading over the course of my life. If I had spent half that time, say, practicing the violin, I would be a seriously accomplished violinist by now. But most of the time, I simply accept my love of the written word as who I am.
However, I am becoming more and more convinced that merely reading by myself is throwing away one of the greatest gifts books can give: a house. Yes, a house. If you’ve ever walked into a library or bookstore, you’ve read signs that say, “Reading takes you to far off places” or “A Book is a Door,” or something like that. And for most of my reading life, I’ve been content to go to those places and open those doors by myself. But increasingly over the last few years, I’ve realized that reading by myself is not the best part of books. Books bring us all into a common house, where readers can enter rooms together and experience words that make us think about things and talk about things we otherwise wouldn’t consider. In that house of thought, readers can open doors to rooms of thought about so much, from how German citizens were affected by World War II, to what it’s really like to give a baby up for adoption, to why lavender is kind of lame color for guys to wear. Or whatever. And there are these crazy, psychedelic colored rooms where we can ask questions like, “what would you do if you fell into a time warp and ended up living with Incas?”
Sure, any of those rooms are pretty fun to be in by myself. But I find myself thinking, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few visitors? To talk about these experiences that happen on paper but seem almost real sometimes? Or that were real for somebody?”
So if you love reading and you find yourself having this conversation:
Friend: “How do you find time to read?”
You: “How do I find time to do anything else?”
Well then, I hope you will get something out of the thoughts and book reviews of this bookworm mom. And share some thoughts of your own!
And of course, I’ll probably share some thoughts on this exquisitely beautiful and messy life of mothering that actually does take precedent over reading in my world. Maybe once in a while those thoughts will feed your mind (and maybe even soul?) in some way, too.
Thanks for visiting with me in the house that books build.