Bookworm

The Andy Hardy movies didn’t tell it “like it is.” They told it the way we’d like it to be, describing an ideal that needs constant reinvention.
        -- Mickey Rooney

I am who I am, in large part, because real people like Howard Pease, Ted Geisel, Robert Lawson, E.B. White, D.J. Watkins-Pitchford, Ann Weil, Madeleine L'Engle, Robert McCloskey, Ellen MacGregor and Beverly Cleary introduced me to fictional First Mate Tod Moran; Horton the Elephant; Amos the Mouse; Charlotte the Spider; British gnomes Dodder, Baldmoney, Cloudberry and Sneezewort; Michele Pagano from the Isle of Capri; Meg Murray; Homer Price; Miss Pickerell; sisters Beezus and Ramona; and a many more imaginary beings that influenced me between age 6 and 12.

I’ve wondered why my mind seems to be constantly filled with thoughts – why I’m never able to turn it off and think of … nothing. Perhaps it’s partly due to the way I started – with books, books and more books.

I was constantly in trouble, both at home and school, for reading at the wrong times. My main transgression at home was reading after bedtime. I had permission to read for a half hour, but chapters never seemed to end on that half hour – and the end of one chapter inexorably drew me on to the next.

At school, I either hid my current title inside a textbook, or tucked it in the cubby under my desktop. I kept up pretty well with schoolwork, but I discovered multi-tasking long before Bill Gates introduced Windows.

Though I have tended to shortchange classic literature, I did graduate into adult fiction and became an avid movie-watcher. Films produced during the golden age of movies included hundreds of “B” pictures and many of these found their way onto television just when I had free hours to take them in.

As I created the list of examples offered above, I was struck by how few details I can recall from all of that reading. I have only a basic sense of the general story line and of characters, but not many specific recollections.

It’s sort of a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” approach to literature, I guess. I wish I could quote chapter and verse from my favorites – or even give credit where it’s due more often when I’m stealing ideas from others.

I’m so happy to be living in the Internet age. I’m able to pull a few words out of my jumbled brain and punch them into Google™ Or YouTube™ and, presto!, I can find the source, sometimes full text or video clips.

The “real” world hasn’t escaped my attention. In fact, I may spend more time on current events than I should. Hopefully, those countless hours of reading and exploring have provided a counterbalance against reality.