Monday, March 17, 2008

Book Culture

We are book people. My brother was visiting us last week with his family. We did a lot of different things and talked about lots of things, but whenever we get together there is some discussion of books. It isn't planned. It's purely spontaneous. I asked him to bring Michner's Chesapeake. I returned Michner's Texas to him. I lent my sister-in-law The Invention of Hugo Cabret. My brother showed me the most recent book that he has been reading, The Exploration of Mars, by Werner Von Braun. It has great illustrations with captions that read something like: "The spacecraft shown in Earth orbit at 330 miles. The group of islands visible on the lower left are the Galapagos." He borrowed a book, mostly of photographs, called The Planets, a Journey Through the Solar System. My niece gave me a book recommendation: Piper Reed. I tried to get my sister-in-law to read Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, one of our favorites from childhood. My niece spent time reading to my kids. My wife spent time reading The Audacity of Hope. There was lots and lots more talk of books and stories and writing.

I'm glad that we're book people. Next time I visit with any of my family I'm sure there will be books exchanged, books talked about, books argued over, reading together; and I'm sure that our kids will carry on this tradition of sharing books.

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