FROM THE OPINION PAGE My literary palate continues to expand with each passing year – Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Most of my children are readers, especially my oldest daughter, who is quite busy but makes time for a lot of reading.

I have always taken that for granted, I guess, but a mutual friend told me the other day she does not really have time to read any more and listens to books instead.

In recent years, I have heard others say the same thing and I have also realized I do not read nearly as much as I once did, other than articles or research materials. But I have not yet switched to audio.

Listening may have the same impact, but I am a visual learner and retain and understand information much better if I actually see it rather than hear it. So I am not sure what I will do and my inclination is to simply make time for more reading, a routine pastime for me when I was growing up.

Other than the Bible, which I grew up with of course and, believe it not, have read in its entirety, the first book I remember having a profound impact on me was Call of the Wild by Jack London. I was convinced it would always be my favorite book of all time.

For a boy who loved the outdoors and dogs and adventure, yep, it was quite an experience. I think it came at a time when I was also reading The Hardy Boys mysteries, devouring every one of them as soon as I can get my hands on them.

These books are still popular, thank goodness. The characters are basically solid, steady and believable personalities who use a lot of common sense and logic.

With maturity comes a taste for more complicated reading fare, of course, so I graduated to Ian Flemings James Bond series.

Just like The Hardy Boys, I loved every one of those books. They went from small city shenanigans by the bad guys to global confrontations often involving the use of nuclear weapons or other devices of mass destruction.

If I wanted to be Frank Hardy when I was 11, James Bond took his place when I was 14. Both characters were smart, quick-thinking and fearless, of course. Things a boy aspires to be.

Obviously, James Bond also possessed a knack for attracting women, which, by the time I was 14, was a far more interesting element than when I was 11. Not that it mattered. I was no James Bond, or Frank Hardy for that matter. Fantasy is a wonderful thing.

Most of that time, I actually felt more like Buck, the dog in Call of the Wild, trying to overcome adverse circumstances and to be free, hoping to find a safe haven from the trials and tribulations of being a teen.

I also enjoyed Agatha Christie and still love Edgar Allan Poe. Of course, my literary palate kept expanding, from Ayn Rand to Kurt Vonnegut. My favorite books changed as I got older too, with Rands Atlas Shrugged taking that top spot for years.

This happens to everybody who reads, I think, as we explore the world of experiences, cultures, philosophy well, about everything. We always find things that make a difference in our lives and thoughts. Cinema and TV can do the same thing, depending, just like books, on the quality of the material.

Fortunately, I also had good teachers who always urged me to read and praised me when I did.

Gosh, for those of us who grew up in these mountains, isolated in many ways from the rest of the world, reading opened up the world to us. We could go everywhere and experience countless things, learning about the world and ourselves in the process.

Reading presents the most diverse, intense, in-depth, profound and often life-changing impacts. And those of us who loved to read traveled to every corner of the universe of experience and emotion and thought, never being satisfied with the here and now.

After all, curiosity and the desire to learn and experience and understand are the foundations of being rational human beings.

Every now and then, I make a list of my favorite books, usually my top 10 based on the impact they had on my life. But that list changes every time with only a few exceptions.

The Bible is in a category all by itself, so that list includes my favorite books, with the top one in the Old Testament Job and in the New Testament Galatians. For anyone who discounts the Bible as not having any literary, creative, historical or philosophical value, you have no idea what you are missing.

And for anyone who doesnt read, well, remember what those wonderful teachers told you.

They were right.

Charles Boothe is a reporter for the Bluefield Daily Telegraph and can be reached at cboothe@bdtonline.com

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FROM THE OPINION PAGE My literary palate continues to expand with each passing year - Bluefield Daily Telegraph