What I'm Reading with Greta: Preface

Interests and hobbies and obsessions have come and gone throughout my lifetime, but one has remained constant for as long as I can remember: books. My parents are book-lovers, and spent untold amounts of time and money immersing their kids in great books. Since middle school, I've typically had two or three books going at the same time, and felt bereft when I've been "between books" -- what to do in my free time? How else to occupy myself in a waiting room or on a bus or, these days, when I'm nursing a baby or enjoying the quiet midday hours of nap time? 

My husband also loves to read, and throughout the six years of our marriage we've nearly always had a book that we're reading through together (Henri Nouwen, Bill Bryson, Debbie Blue and Michael Pollan are among the authors we've read aloud to each other). Since she was a newborn, we've been sharing books with Greta, too. We have a delightful collection of our own picture books at home (thanks in large part to generous grandparents and friends), and we visit the library at least once a week, returning each time with a stack of books to which we've each contributed new selections to try and old favorites to enjoy together again.

Since she could turn the pages on her own, Greta has been "reading" aloud to herself, making up stories and dialogue between characters (sometimes so emotionally charged that I have to double-check that she's just doing make-believe voices, and not actually in a rage). She's definitely a bookworm, and we're eager to see her learn to read -- although I'm going to savor the next few years before she's off reading entirely on her own. Once I was able to read by myself, I wasn't interested in having my parents read aloud to me anymore; I'll be happy to see Greta an independent reader, but a little disappointed when she grows out of sitting on my lap, listening to me read to her.

I'd like to capture a few snapshots of this stage of her life, when we're still reading books together (i.e. when she's still reliant on me to decipher the words). I'm seeing my daughter fall in love with books, her eyes drinking in the richly-colored pages as she journeys throughout our world and into worlds of fantasy and wonder -- and I don't want to forget it. To that end, I'll be starting a series of blog posts called "What I'm Reading with Greta" to share these snapshots. I hope you'll join me and make it a conversation, because if there's one thing I enjoy as much as reading a good book, it's discussing a good book; stay tuned!