Books: From Scott Pilgrim to Edgar Allan Poe to my kids.

    "This is Gideon. When would it be convenient for you to die?"
     It's been 16 months since that infamous phone call to Scott Pilgrim at the end of Scott Pilgrim Volume 5. Here I sit impatiently, knowing that Amazon has shipped Volume 6, the last volume of a journey that has lasted six years. I'm excited and sad that this story is ending dispite the fact that in August these books are getting the big screen and video game treatment.
     This is due to my special relationship with books. Please forgive all the pretty links you're about to see but I want to make sure I share with all of you a passion of mine. I love books, all kinds of them from comics and graphic novels to every kind of fiction and non-fiction you can think of.
     I can't seem to get around the idea of a Kindle or a Nook. I mean I sure do get the convenience of having all your books portable on a small computer. Sure it saves on space and the books are actually cheaper, but for me it's not the same. I love the feel of a book in my hand and turning pages, I love going to a book store and picking something out and the smell and feeling when you first crack it open. Am I weird? maybe .
      My love affair with books started young, very young before kindergarten, I learned to read early and so did my kids. The first memory of my love of books was an old hardcover from 1942 call Smilin' Jack and the daredevil girl pilot. After that I soaked up anything I could get which included a lot of Spider-Man and Fantastic Four comics.
    I have great memories of going to the five and dime with my grandmother and picking out new paperbacks every week including a copy of the first Star Wars novel for 95 cents. I also remember taking books off her shelf and reading them including The original Red Dragon hard cover, which at about 13 I was way too young to read, but changed my life none the less.
    That book was probably the reason I discovered how great horror could be and the reason I discovered Stephen King. Now I own every book he's ever written, and still remember fondly my mother bringing me home a copy of The Dead Zone when I was bed-ridden with the flu. To this day Christine and The Stand along with F Paul Wilson's The Keep are still among my favorite books despite having now read hundreds.
     I was one of the few in high school who was fine with reading Shakespeare, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Outsiders. These are books I still love and if you haven't read them you really should. I carried books with me everywhere even back then, from football practice to lunch, of course I usually kept it stuck away somewhere.
     I still get a huge thrill out of discovering new authors. I recently found an author I fell in love with by the name of Gillian Flynn who's two novels Sharp Objects and Dark Places re-inspired my love of mystery novels and Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy is inspiring everyone's imagination from housewives to Hollywood, not just me.
     My house is filled top to bottom with every kind of book from Spider-Man and Star Wars to Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes. From philosophy and biographies to superheroes and axe murderers and dozens of sports books and  I think they are beautiful.
     So you're probably asking "Other than sharing an obsession Paul, what's the point?" Well, the point is my oldest son hates reading so much that he claims to be allergic to books. That's right I can't get my son to read and it kills me. He was able to read before entering kindergarten like me and his brother. When he was in second grade he passed a junior high reading test and seemed to love reading but by third grade he was way too cool for books.
    I've made deals with him, offered him allowance based on reading not chores, and of course threatened  and harassed him to no avail. I've bought him books for every interest he's shown from basketball and soccer to Halo. The boy has actually talked himself into allergies from reading. Seriously, how do you give yourself hives from reading. I had a moment of hope In the bookstore the other day when he actually showed interest in a book ...called "Asshole-ology: The science behind getting your way- and getting away with it". The moment was over. I'm sad because it's a long way from the same kid who asked to be read The Sheep Who Was Allergic to Wool and the Monster at the End of this book  every single night over and over. I still have some hope as my youngest seems to want to read and has two books going right now, but it's a little touch and go.
    Reading is important to me and my wife, who herself goes through books like tic tacs. Not just because we know the simple joy that a book can bring but because we also understand how it can help your brain continue to grow and how books can actually help your vocabulary and articulation which are very important for quality social interaction and your future in the job market. Want to impress a potential employer? Then try being able to communicate like a grown-up with a brain versus going into an interview saying "S'up man, g'head axe me sum things." Seriously that happened...needless to say his application was in the trash before he was out the door.
     Please continue to read and encourage your children to do so. My best friend is doing an incredible job on this front with his daughter and she's a brilliant, articulate, and amazing little girl. No bad can possibly come from it. Unless maybe your terrified of paper cuts or The Monster at the End of the Book.

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