Skip to main content

All the Books for You

Some mornings when I'm up early and it's just me and my oldest boy awake in the house, wandering around pulling out cereal bowls and wiping away sleep, I pull my feet up on my chair and I start telling him about the book that kept me up late the night before. I tell him about the parts I know he might connect with, that might start the beginnings of a smile on the corner of his face the way they do on mine. Like when Park lets Eleanor read X-Men comics over his shoulder on the bus. Or how Puck and Sean Kendrick ride Corr above the bloodthirsty beaches of Thisby. Or that golden day when Peter and Tiger Lily lie in the tall grass and watch the wild horses run.

But then when he inevitably asks if he can read it as soon as I'm done, I'm forced to answer sometimes that he can't. More often than not because there's some little thing in it, some element, some dialogue, some scene that makes it so I can't just hand it to my 10-year-old boy. And I feel sad. I want to share every good book I read with him right then. I want to let those scenes land inside him and watch his eyes light and his corners smile and talk about them with him in those early mornings when it's just the two of us awake. I know it will all come in time. It's just sometimes I'm bad at being patient. But someday. I know.

Someday all the books, Will. All the books for you.

Comments

  1. Aww Angie, this is so sweet. I love that your kids are readers too. Someday! When that time comes, you'll probably be surprised at how fast they're growing up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Angie, I feel your pain! btw: I would love for this to become a standing element in all your reviews--youngest age you would allow to read it OR appropriate for X and older, etc. I know we all have different standards/values/whatevers that make some books OK for our kids and others not OK, but I would love your opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lucky you! I wish I could talk about books with my son, but alas, he is not interested at all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks, Chachic. And I know you're right. That time will come and they'll be such grown-ups I won't know what to do with myself!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I bet you do, Sally! I've tossed around the notion of something along those lines because you're not the first person to ask. I haven't implemented something yet because I struggle to hand out definitive or blanket rankings or recommendations (hence the no star system, etc). But I know they would be helpful to many. *ponders*

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lol. How old is he, Marg? Would he be interested in graphic novels at all? Sometimes they're the gateway drug . . . haha.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Aw, what a beautiful sentiment. Just lovely. And I'm in the same boat, except that my girl is only six, so I have that much longer to wait. But it'll be worth it to see her smile in that same way. =)

    ReplyDelete
  8. He is 15. We have tried gaming type novels but apparently it is too boring reading a book. The look on my face must have been one of mortification!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a lovely post! It's cool how you connect with your son through reading, even if the books aren't quite appropriate for him yet, someday, they will be.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ha! I can see it now.

    ReplyDelete
  11. They will. And I know how lucky I am that he already loves reading as much as he does.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Darkest Mercy Cover Art

I know you've likely seen this cover already, but it's frankly too pretty not to post. Also, it's Donia. And I love Donia. This is the cover for Darkest Mercy --the fifth and final book in Melissa Marr 's Wicked Lovely series. And just for fun, I thought I'd post all five covers side by side here now, both to show the arc of truly lovely cover art for a series, and to try to determine which one is my favorite. First of all-- so pretty . This series has just had consistently gorgeous covers and I love seeing that, especially for a series I've followed and enjoyed (I should say that has inspired the full range of human emotions in me--which can only be a good thing--even when I'm railing against some bit of nonsense Keenan got himself up to). Second, as far as my favorite goes, it's definitely down to either the cover of Ink Exchange or the one for  Darkest Mercy . I love them both. But I think, I think , I'm gonna have to go with Ink Exchange . Bec

Bibliocrack Review | The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

 Hi. Hey. Hello there. It's been a . . . well, you know what it's been. We're all still living this together. So I will simply skip to the fact that I couldn't not review this book here. Because reading it was something special. I knew nothing about Ali Hazelwood 's debut novel except that it involved women in STEM and that the cover made me smile. I decided to set it aside for myself as a reward. Work has been . . . punishing . . . for the last year, and I have been so exhausted every hour of every day. And so I determined to buy The Love Hypothesis  on release day knowing nothing about it. But when I went to the bookstore to get my copy, none were available. In fact, none were available anywhere for love nor money, in store or online. At first I was moderately disappointed. Then I told myself maybe it's not that great after all and I didn't necessarily need to feel this preemptive sense of loss. But it kept gnawing at me. The loss. And so I paused work an

Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

I can't quit Jennifer Echols . Not that I really try that hard, but I read her new ones and often feel as though I'm still searching for that one in possession of that certain something that will make me feel the way  Going Too Far did. Like I couldn't put it it down. And definitely like I didn't hate either of the main characters after the fact. Well, I found it with Such a Rush . I read this 300+ pager in a single night, which clears up the question of whether or not I couldn't put it down. And I finished it definitely not hating either of the main characters. I didn't finish it loving them both unreservedly, though. I loved Leah with my whole heart from page one and that never changed. My feelings regarding one of the Hall brothers remain complicated. More to come on this in a bit. On a side note, I'm delighted that Such a Rush is Ms. Echols' hardcover debut. It's a meticulously designed book, a pleasure to hold in my hands as I stayed up way