The longer Egon reads, the deeper into the sofa he sinks. By the end of the day, he’s pretty much buried.
My kids read. Compulsively. Carrying books around with them, reading as they walk, eat, ride in the car, lie in bed. More pages, more, MORE! is their battle cry. If they have run dry of text, they wander discontented, unmoored.
Egon maintains a Shelf of Fame, a collection of his “best books.” These are invariably series, a format he much prefers, I think because it draws out the story longer.
For Christmas, I spent several weeks debating whether or not to buy Shara a back rest cushion for her bed. On the one hand, she spends a LOT of time there, reading. On the other hand, she spends a LOT of time there. Did I want to facilitate her isolating herself from the family? In the end, I broke down and bought it.
Several times over the years, Shara’s school reports have included some variation of the phrase, “She needs to stop reading in class and pay attention to the teacher.” Most of her teachers have confessed feeling conflicted about this; to try and stop a child from reading runs counter to their very genes.
It is obvious, of course, where this predilection for print arises. I have been known to read a bit myself. I find it impossible, for example, to eat without words. Dinners cool and congeal on the plate as I search for a book or magazine, or paper or – in times of desperation – a mailorder catalogue.
I have a photograph of Shara, at 2 years old, sitting at the kitchen table, holding the newspaper up in front of her in a fantastic imitation of what she must have witnessed at least 700 times already.
It’s good, this reading fixation. And yet. I wish I had the skills to write, as well as read. To contribute, as well as consume. I admire these authors, these people who can spin a tale off the tip of their pen. Someday, I’d love to be on the receiving end of such admiration, I admit.
In the meantime, I’ve got to go finish the book I started the other day whilst working at the polls: red earth and pouring rain, by Vikram Chandra.
