In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, I decided to give my freshmen a quote about reading for our Tuesday quickwrite. Since I had a meeting this morning and didn't have time to go searching for that perfect quote, I had to grab for one quick within the dusty annals of my brain.
What I came up with is this, ironically taken from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, a book that they will be reading in about a month:
"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."
Turns out that was the proverbial perfect quote. Sometimes my students really surprise me, and this was one of those days. Not only did they understand the gist of the quote, they really started connecting it to their own lives on a--dare I say it--philosophical level : )
In my world, reading is essentially akin to breathing. It is something I do to relax, to learn, to escape, to entertain, and so on and so forth. I learned how to read at a very young age and have never really stopped. Simply put, I cannot imagine my life without books. It would be like existing without a right hand.
So what about you? Is reading your breath? If not, is there anything in your life (beyond children, of course ... speaking for myself at least, that goes without saying) that you would equate with breathing?
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ReplyDeleteReading and writing are my two. I don't think I could get by without words. And I love that quote. So true! :)
ReplyDeleteSunshine.
ReplyDeleteI openly admit, I am late to the party when it comes to loving to read.
ReplyDeleteMy mom always had her nose in a book growing up and I could NEVER get her attention (now I think it could have to do with the fact I was the youngest of 5 and she was 40 when she had me ---hmmm..she was tired from raising kids for so many years) and I was a history major.
I read a lot in college and as I moved about in my career, I read many contracts and it was torture.
I began to read for fun in my late 30's. I get sucked into books and admit to LOVING the classics because you can linger on a sentence.
When I initially began reading for pleasure, I wouldn't put a book down until done. As a slow reader, hours and days were sucked away. Now, I balance it out with a chapter or 2 a day.
I love reading because I love connecting with the characters and the worlds inside of books. It really is the great escape for me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on reading ... in addition to that; skiing, of course ... >:)
ReplyDeleteMusic is like that for me.
ReplyDelete