As I’ve said as recently as this week, and just in general, reading is a big deal to me. So maybe that’s a big gratitude. But one book? That’s surely small enough to make the everyday list.

I just finished a marvelous book. It was on the library’s reserve list for MONTHS. I”m serious: I think it was more than two months before I finally got it after putting a hold on it. But it was worth the wait. I’m not reviewing it, so don’t expect that. Today it’s books in general — reading — that has me grateful.

Many books come to me via FB friend recommendations. Others come from a wonderful email book list, Shelf Awareness. While the list is free, I like it so much I’ve donated to the ongoing fund, so I never have to go without. 🙂 To be honest, I don’t remember how I heard about A Man Called Ove. The description said funny, well-written, and heart-warming. All of those are big sells for me.

When I was a small child, I read so fast and so much that my grandmother once chastised me. I didn’t have you come for the weekend to watch you read, she told me in exasperation. It was escape from moves, it was adventure for a girl who was taught by the same grandmother to walk w/ a book on her head. It was new friends — I still half-believe in the Velveteen Rabbit — and knowledge and, well, bliss.

The suitcase all residents of a warzone had to keep packed — even children — was at least 1/2 books. As it has been on every other large move, or family trip, or conference.

So today’s gratitude is for reading in general, and the gift of a book you don’t want to end. My shelves are full of books like this. It’s a great thing to be grateful for. And yes, I  understand that to be grateful for the everyday pleasure of a good book is also to be grateful I can read, that I had good teachers in good schools. That I have access to libraries. And that my culture allows females to read…

Funny: you give thanks for one things, and it turns out to be your whole life… Who knew? 🙂