Thanks for Books

There will be a lot of thanks given for the love of family, friends, food, and warm, dry shelter and I, too am thankful for those things. But I am also very thankful for books; for words that writers have put together on a string so that I may enjoy, learn and expand my field of compassion and understanding. I’m especially thankful for modern medical technology and medicine that has given me sight from Macular Degeneration Wet, when as recently as fifteen years ago, I would have had darkness.

I’ve just finished reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It’s the true story of Louie Zamperini, his unruly youth that led him to be a record-setting runner before joining up to fight in the Pacific in World War II. The story includes how he was adrift in the Pacific Ocean before being picked up by the Japanese and sent to POW camps. It also follows one particularly brutal war criminal Watanabe, after the war ended. As in Seabiscuit, Hillenbrand does a fine job of stringing her words together.

We, as Americans have much to be thankful for.

Readers & Writers

Books without readers would be useless. Which means that readers are just as important as writers. Yes, some writers make lots of money but most writers, I think, write because the words and thoughts are within them, bursting to get out. Writing in a journal can later recall a memory possibly forgotten; to write can be healing; to write and be read is very gratifying; to write and be remembered is a star to reach for.

Books shared stretch the written word to places they may not have gone. Now that I’ve learned about Bookcrossing.com, I’m spreading the written word around. My first book about pets, has gone to Texas and then to Florida. This week I’m sending one to the Cook Islands in the Pacific. Wow. Check the program out at: http://www.bookcrossing.com/about