THURSDAY SPARKS: THEMES & BOOKING — MAY 3

Welcome to another day of bookish delight, as we celebrate two events.

Theme Thursdays, hosted by Reading Between Pages, is all about finding themes in the books we read and enjoying the writing styles of the authors we explore.

Booking Through Thursday is like a conversation amongst bloggers in response to a prompt issued each week.

Come on by and join in the fun!

Theme Thursdays:

Today’s theme:

AGREE , Nod, accept, etc

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Today’s selection is a collection of short stories by Jennifer Weiner, called The Guy Not Taken.   In this collection of short stories, the reader follows the tender, and often hilarious, progress of love and relationships over the course of a lifetime. From a teenager coming to terms with her father’s disappearance to a widow accepting two young women into her home, Weiner’s eleven stories explore those transformative moments in our every day.  My snippet is from the first story, called Just Desserts.

In this passage, three siblings are at a family swimming pool, discussing jobs for one of them; after several attempts, all dismissed by Nicki for various reasons:  she doesn’t like people very much, doesn’t want to do anything physical, etc.  But after her siblings keep pushing, she finally grudgingly grabs the phone:

“When the ringing finally stopped, my sister stomped back across the gravel and snatched up the telephone.  She flopped onto her chair, punched in some numbers, and said, “Yes, in Avon, Connecticut, a listing for Friendly’s, please?” (p. 7-8)

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Booking Through Thursday:

Heidi asks:

Do you have siblings? Do they like to read?

It has been many years since I lived under the same roof as my siblings.  We varied in age and interests so much, but I think that we all enjoyed some form of reading.

My older brother was very scholarly, so I don’t recall him reading for “pleasure,” however.  My younger brother and sister did read, but nobody in the family read as much as I did.

I was dubbed “the bookworm,” and spent more time reading than all of them combined.

I don’t know what their adult reading habits are…I don’t have a close relationship with the two younger ones, who live in a town a few hours away.  My older brother passed away almost thirty years ago.

It is interesting to think about reading habits among siblings, however, and I think of my own children and how they fared in these traits.  My older two were big Stephen King fans in their teens; I know my oldest one still enjoys an edgy story.  He is a writer/photographer, while my second oldest works in the film industry and occasionally writes screenplays.

Their reading habits fueled their adult pursuits.  I think a reader’s journey can take many paths, but in the end, the love of reading is at the core of those of us who love to read, informing our lives.

What about you?  What are your thoughts?

Curl up and read….