Fireside Chats

A friend sent me the following:

Novelist, essayist and screenwriter Larry McMurtry makes a rare Houston speaking appearance Wednesday night when he delivers the 2009 Friends of Fondren Library Distinguished Guest Lecture.
Q: What will you talk about at Rice?
A:  The end of the culture of the book. I’m pessimistic. Mainly it’s the flow of people into my bookshop in Archer City. They’re almost always people over 40.

There are lots of high tech options for reading. I have enjoyed listening to books on tape, CD, and mp3. There are lots of classics in mp3 format on the Internet, that can be had for nothing. A long car ride is transformed by listening to stories involving dogs. I think I get more from reading at my own pace. I asked for a Kindle for my birthday. I have two nieces who both read. My younger son actually reads every book that is assigned. (Sadly, I did not when I was in school.)

It’s a question of culture. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, a kid does not respond to a good example. However, it is well worth the effort, and most of them come around, if we are persistent enough. The persistence comes from an appreciation of what our parents did for us. And if we were ignored or maltreated, then living to be different from a bad example is almost as good as trying to live up to a good one. When kids are little, read to them until THEY are exhausted. Let them choose their favorites to be read again. You will make an indelible impression on them. Now that a grand daughter is due, we are digging out the old baby books. My younger son reads them in the same voice I used. For instance: Mike Mulligan’s Steamshovel read like Walter Cronkite. I would like to list kids books along with appropriate ages and suggestions for presentation. You cannot beat Chika-chika-boom for teaching rhythm and poetry to 2-year olds.

What goes around comes around. As I recovered in the hospital my son helped me get to sleep by reading a play out loud.

Believe me, I know it’s a struggle, but what else are we going to do for 10-30 years of retirement? You can see the universe in the pages of a book. I hope to read nearly everything Darwin, Twain, and Thoreau had to say. Then I will share the best with whomever will listen. I would like to retire and read more books in ten years than I read my whole life. A man named Garth Cate married my grandmother in the 1950’s. They were already over 60. Garth taught us to value reading and to think for ourselves. I’m hoping to be an elderly role-model in my turn. That is probably as big as goal as any I can think of.