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Dear Reader,
This week is "Ask Suzanne." If you have a question you've always wanted to ask, now is the time. Email your question to me at: Suzanne@Emailbookclub.com
I won't be able to personally answer everybody's questions, but if I use yours in my column, I'll send you a free book as a thank you. I'd love to hear from you.
"Hi Suzanne, I'm Carol Dirks and I have two questions. When did you start reading and what is the most unusual place where you read?"
Carol, when I was a kid, I used to play librarian. The plan was to either become a librarian or a missionary. My parents didn't read a lot, but they bought me a lot of books, mainly the classics--because those were the ones the grocery store offered every week in a special promotion. If your grocery bill totaled at least $15.00, then you could buy one of the classics for ninety-nine cents. So every week, when my mother came home from the market, I'd add another book to my "library." I can't say that I ever really read any of the books, (because my mother also had a rule about reading: If you start a book you have to finish it and those books looked pretty thick to this kid) but I was sure impressed with how the books looked. They were bound with a gray cover and each one had a different brightly colored spine: solid pink, blue, green, red, and purple. They made a stunning collection when they were lined up side-by-side on my bookshelf.
I made card holder pockets out of thick construction paper, and I taped one in the back of every book. And then I put one of my mother's recipe cards inside each "pocket" so someone could write their name on it when they checked out one of my books. But the problem was I was an only child, so nobody ever checked out my books.
My grandmother bought me reference-style books about the planets, dinosaurs, birds and bugs and those were the types of books that I spent most of my time reading. It's amazing how much I still remember from those books. Every now and then when my husband and I are out on a walk, we'll spot an unusual bird and I'll recall from way back, seeing the bird in the book and I even remember the name of it, too. (My husband's always so impressed.)
Sorry to disappoint you with the second part of your question, but I can't really think of an unusual place where I read. Now, if you'd asked me where I find myself writing--that would make for an interesting answer. I've been known to jump out of the tub to jot down column notes and I carry a small tape recorder so I can record notes when it's not convenient to write. It doesn't matter where I'm at, when inspiration strikes, I have to stop and start writing. I don't have a choice. Once I wrote an entire column in the supermarket, but it was tough because I forgot my notebook. I didn't have anything to write on except the butcher paper that was wrapped around my thinly sliced baby Swiss. (In fact I still have the wrapper tucked away in my desk drawer.) I was leaning on my cart for 20 minutes while I was writing and I'm sure the other shoppers thought I was a bit strange, but I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I didn't even notice.
Thanks for asking Carol. Remember, all this week I'll be answering readers' questions. I hope to hear from you.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com
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