Reading = Loving

Remember when I said I joined a book club at school? Did I say that here? Well, I joined a book club of coworkers. And the book we're reading this month is The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma (2012) about a girl and her father. When she was 9, they made a promise to read out loud together every night for 100 days straight. Nine years later, the streak broke when Alice left for college.

I did not choose this book, and to be honest, the first 40 pages are pretty corny. Alice was a precocious 9-year old. But that being said, I LOVED the last paragraph of her introduction. I hope you love it, too. It reads as follows:

"This book is about the quilt of our lives, and all the patches - some tattered, some vibrant - woven together by the books we read. This book is about remembering what you were reading when your sister moved away. but also remembering what that last hug felt like. This book is about remembering the words on the pages, but never forgetting whose head was on your shoulder while you read them. This book is about growth, and change, and fear, and hope, and triumph, and yes, books. It is about all of those things, because reading never is, and never can be, just about the characters and the plots. 

Reading to someone is an act of love. This book is, above all else, a love story."