Bookish

I am such a sap! Yesterday, I laughed my head off and cried my eyes out at the movie, "Ramona & Beezus." The movie is based on the Ramona books by Beverly Clearly, favorites of mine as a child. Plain and simple, this was an excellent family film - funny, heartwarming, clean. Not a blockbuster or an Oscar contender, but entertaining fare worth a family's time. But beyond the goodness of the movie was the sweetness of seeing on screen beloved characters from so many years ago. My sister and I repeatedly exclaimed under our breath as yet another character or situation was introduced that we recognized from the books. It gives me half a mind to read those books again. More than that, it drew me into memories of reading. At breakfast, in the car, curled up in bed, in between homework assignments, during commercials... I grew up with a book in front of me. Joy and excitement were found in the immersion of my imagination in the words on each page. There wasn't a lot about my little life to 'expand my horizons', but books... well, books let me know there was a vast world around me, filled with a host of personalities and cultures, opportunities and adventures.

It's why I still read. It's why I write fiction. It's why I question how long I should sustain my current circumstances rather than take a leap.