Reading Like Uncle Paul

Since my friend and former English teacher passed away this summer, I've been reading a lot more.  As a matter of fact, since her death, I've averaged two titles a month. Some were classics like Brave New World  and (in her honor) Heart of Darkness.

Half of what I've read has been Shakespeare plays.

I've remembered how much I enjoy Shakespeare and his iambic pentameter. The power of his storytelling literally gave me a nightmare one night! Thanks to Titus Andronicus, which includes racism, political intrigue, revenge, forbidden love, nearly a dozen murders, a rape, a tongue cut off, 3 hands chopped off (from two different people), and a conniving Goth queen unknowingly eating her two adult children, I spent a harrowing night trying to outrun two guys after my appendages!

 

And I've discovered that Truman Capote may be one of the most brilliant writers of all time.

I'm hoping that all this reading will rub off on the boys. I write content for the blog of one of my clients, Wackadoodle Books - an online children's book seller - and I know the importance of letting kids see you read.

What I've only recently realized is that those kids don't need to live in your house.

Whenever I think of my Uncle Paul, my Theia Sophie's husband, I think of him with a book. I don't think I ever saw him in his home when he wasn't reading. Now, it's true, I can't tell you the title of a single book I saw him reading while I was around, but he was always reading. And if it was OK for Uncle Paul to like to read, it was OK for me to like to read.

So maybe catching me glued to a book or play will have the same effect on my boys.