Books

How long does it take to read a book? In my case some of them require about 42 years!

Like I have said before, I am a late bloomer!

I remember two courses, well really two teachers, very distinctly. One taught freshman English and we read short stories. Our textbook was later removed from the curriculum because her boy friend compiled it and it eventually earned the somewhat dubious title of "dirtiest textbook." I only remember two things from that course. One was that a short story should be able to be read in three hours or less. The other was that a story about a spot on a woman's underwear was incredibly boring.

The other class I remember was one I was so excited about before it started and really dreaded before it ended. It was an American Literature class where we touched on what seemed like a hundred authors and never really had time to read and learn about any of them. The professor would drone on and on and we would all sit there sort of stupidly staring at him. My problem is that I don't learn very much this way.

I don't know if it is a learning disability, or a stubborn streak, but if you don't engage me in some way, or I can't find a way to engage myself, I don't retain much. As nerve wracking as it might be, I do better when I think I must contribute. It was a shaming and shameful situation for me. I failed that class!

Worse, I thought it meant I could not read many very great American authors and never again did I pick up one of their books -- until lately.

It was very difficult for me as I struggled through Faulkner's, The Unvanquished. No less difficult for me to read Sanctuary, but I loved James Agee's, A Death In The Family and devoured his book, The Morning Watch. Now I am eagerly beginning Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

Why this sudden surge in something I studiously avoided for so many years?

That's easy. I have someone who knows how to engage me! Someone who cares enough and is willing to take the time to point me in the right direction and then lead me there with enticing bits of information in the beginning. Now I trust him and just dive right in wherever he points. What felt so foreign and difficult before now seems rich and intriguing.

A good teacher is worth his weight in gold or whatever else you value. In fact, he is really priceless. He has given me not just the ability and desire to read the words of great people, but he has opened the way for me to want to continue doing this for as long as I live.