30 Days of Gratitude Challenge - Day 15

[Granny_Weatherwax]

It's a beautiful day! We have made it to the halfway point of our gratitude challenge. I hope you are enjoying watching your gratitude jars and journals fill with the wondrous blessings in your life.

Today we are showing gratitude for written/print media. Whether it's a magazine, newspaper, online blog, ebook, or print book, we have so many ways to enjoy reading.  What are your three favorite things to read? Favorite books? Favorite authors? Do you have a special reading area in your home?

Action steps: If you can, send an email, FB message, or IG post to your favorite author. Tell that person how much you enjoy their writing and specifically name your favorite work. Clean your reading area. Organize your TBR pile. Donate books or magazines to a Free Little Library or an assisted living /nursing home. 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Oh how I love to read. At this time in my life, I don't get as much reading time as I would like. Tennis, puppy, and elder dog care take up a lot of time My TBR pile is larger than my books completed list this year. 

My favorite authors are Charles Dickens, Terry Pratchett, and Anthony Horowitz.  I began the Alex Rider series when my DS was young and have been reading Anthony Horowitz ever since. I think I've read more AH than my DS.

Terry Pratchett was recommended to me by a member of my tennis team about three years ago. I am so grateful for the recommendation. I love the Discworld and Terry Pratchett's humor. I am happy there is a large body of work for me to enjoy but saddened knowing that Terry has passed away and his voice has been quieted.

My favorite magazines are tennis or dog related. I need all of the knowledge I can glean in those two areas.

My action step today will be to contact Anthony Horowitz. I put some books and DVDs in a Free Little Library a couple of days ago.

[SKL]

I love reading, but personal reading got demoted to last place when I brought home my daughters.  One day I realized it had been 3 years since I'd read anything that wasn't for my job or my kids.  So finally I grudgingly allowed myself to do the unthinkable - read in the bathroom.  LOL!

I usually read nonfiction on a day-to-day basis ... stuff about spirituality, history, mental health, biography, etc.  I also read "classic" fiction that I missed reading when I was young.  Still working on those "100 books college-bound teens should read," LOL.  But when I travel, I may pick up a novel by someone like Elizabeth George or John Grisham or similar.  I also enjoy reading all sorts of books with my kids, although we haven't done much of that recently.

My 3 favorite things to read?  Here we go with the "favorite" theme again, LOL.  In terms of enjoyment, I like a nice classic that includes romance but isn't a romance.  In terms of fulfillment, I like a good spiritual book, or, as I used to do daily, reading several "holy books" side by side and finding the common messages.  In terms of gaining knowledge, I like to read the best biographies of important world figures.

For an action step, today, I may not have time, but sometime soon I will try to organize books to read and donate books I've read.

[mom31257]

I never loved reading in general. I'm a math/science girl who likes a check list and short things when I need information. But that changed a bit with homeschooling. 

My oldest loved reading and devoured books. My youngest not so much. I like outside accountability, so I decided to start a book club for some friends when ds was in 3rd grade. I knew it would help me make sure I had him read several good books a year and maybe he would have more fun with those books. I went through the DVD program, Teaching the Classics, and it turned a book into a problem to be solved. I hosted this book club for the next six years. I really enjoyed the books we read. I think the fact that elementary and middle school books are shorter made me enjoy them more. They have very rich and deep themes, too. I actually approached the library here about volunteering to do a book club, but they weren't allowing volunteers because of Covid.  

So three favorites:

My favorite book as a young adult was Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. I love the story and the opening line, "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again," easily takes me into the story. 

I love the Chicago series books by Richard Peck. There's a particular part of one of the book, A Long Way from Chicago, that makes me think so much of my grandmother I cry every time I read it. 

I love to read the Bible and do bible studies. 

Both those authors above have passed away. Another favorite author from the book club years is Kate DiCamillo. I follow her on Facebook, so I will see if there is a way to send her a message. We donated a lot of books when we sold our house, so I don't have much left I want to part with. 

 

[DreamerGirl]

Books have been an important part of my life ever since I can remember. 

I did not grow up in the US. We were a member of two libraries, the British and the American Consulate libraries. These were wonderful resources for me and I learned about different parts of the world because of Lonely Planet and National Geographic. I never imagined I would get to travel so I devoured them. When I finally got to travel these books made so many places seem so familiar because I had spent hours poring over them.

I have always loved looking at the sky ever since I was a child. Cosmos by Carl Sagan is one of the most influential books of my life. I did not own it of course growing up. When I came here it was one of the first books I ever bought. I still have it and have enjoyed reading with my kids.

Enid Blyton and Jane Austen were two authors that were hugely influential growing up. I have since had a chance to reminiscence with so many who grew up reading them as children in so many parts of the world especially around the Commonwealth (former British colonies)

As for media, it has always been the BBC even when I was growing up. They had reporters in various parts of the world and have radio services in several languages long before news was a business. I always get breaking news from them. 

I grew up with newspapers, years since I subscribed to any.  I have breaking news alerts now from different news sources to keep me informed. But I do enjoy reading articles of my choosing in languages other than English to maintain/increase proficient and at my pace.

I can cook the cuisine of my home country from memory, touch, smell and taste. I had no idea about any other. Blogs have been one of the best resources for that and also learning technique. Some websites.

BBC Food (https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/cuisines)

NYtimes cooking (before they started charging)

Marion's Kitchen https://www.marionskitchen.com (Asian)

Maangchi (https://www.maangchi.com) (Korean)

Ina Garten

Jamie Oliver

Really had no clue about baking and now am decent thanks to these two folks.

Mary Berry 

Paul Hollywood 

One of my favorite quotes is "If you have a library and a garden, you have everything you need". I am a terrible gardener but books have been one of my life's greatest blessings and I have been enriched by them. I strived very much to pass that on to both my kids and so far I am fairly successful.

Edited November 15, 2021 by DreamerGirl

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Bump

[Hannah]

I 'took to crime' during Covid and spent many a weekend afternoon on the couch reading Tess Gerritsen, Kathy Reich, Stephen Leather, Patricia Cornwell, Jo Nesbo and many more.  I'd find one I like and then read everything the Rotary bookstore in town had of that author.

Our book club finally met again last month - we moved it to a Saturday afternoon and all sat outside in one member's garden - it was fantastic to see everyone again in person after all this time.   We did have a few Zoom meetings, but it was just not the same.

I've put together a few boxes and will be taking them to donate this weekend.