they say it's your birthday

It's my birthday too, yeah!
March is birthday month at our house. Each year I give my children a book each for their birthdays. I write a note on the inside cover, noting their age and the date and why I thought this particular book was fitting for them at this time in their lives. Each time I do I wonder: where will this book end up? What other children will read my note and wonder about this special child?
We have a few books with notes written inside the cover or in the margin. Some are simply the owner's name and address, others are inscriptions. There's something in reading another person's thoughts in a book - almost a connection through time and space.
Some books I've bought for others: Jenny Goes to Sea by Esther Averill; Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz; La Belle Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind by Beppe Severgnini; Girl Meets God: on the Path to a Spiritual Life by Lauren F. Winner; Maritime Supremacy & the Opening of the Western Mind: Naval Campaigns That Shaped the Modern World by Peter Padfield

what we're reading

I read Sonia Worthy's blog of note reading people yesterday. I had never thought that the digital revolution was making us into an unliterary nation. Interesting idea and her blog is great. I also heard of research recently that noted "parents who want their children to read fiction books frequently should have a lot of books at home and at most one television".*

Winter is a great season for reading. The days are short and the weather foreboding. What better setting for reading a book in front of the fire? March is good too. The days are getting longer anticipating spring. The sun is rising over my shoulder on my commute these mornings and sets after I m home. Makes one want to be outside but the weather is unpredictable - yesterday it rained, hailed and the sun shown brightly enough for sunglasses, all within the span of a few hours! I love sitting on the porch reading while the rain falls. Or sitting outside the coffee shop enjoying the vitamin d rejuvenation of the sun while reading.

So what are we reading? Check out the picture and see - and yes we read promiscuously: indiscriminately and diversely in regard to quality and quantity.

*van Ours, Jan C., "Children Reading Fiction Books Because They Want To" (January 2006). CEPR Discussion Paper No. 5472 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=901231