What a delight it was to spend the day at the South Carolina Book Festival yesterday http://scbookfestival.org/. It was fun to see the familiar faces of Kate Salley Palmer and Ann B. Ross. Kate had her new book, “Hostie,” and her illustrations, as always, are excellent. Ann Ross spoke to my book club on Wednesday afternoon, and I bought her new book on Miss Julia. Rubbing shoulders with these women and other notables was quite an experience.
We are blessed to live in a state that believes in the importance of the written words in books. Book stores like Hub City Bookshop in Spartanburg, Books on Broad in Camden, and Fiction Addiction in Greenville make sure that we have good books at our fingertips.
How grateful I am that Hub City Writers Project and Harrelson Press have seen potential in my writing, as well as many others. I enjoyed spending the day with Merianna Harrelson at the festival.
Thankfully, I was born into a family of readers; books, magazines, and newspapers abounded in every room. Visiting the library in the summer was a treat every two weeks; I always took home the maximum of fifteen books. Sometimes we even read the same books and had our own book discussions. It was interesting to agree and disagree. Mother and I read a lot of historical fiction. My dad, brother, and I read mysteries; Pat Conroy, Robert Ludlum, and Patricia Cornwall are a few favorites.
Maya Angelou said, “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” Obviously, my parents concurred.
One of the courses that I taught for several years at USC Upstate was reading for the secondary teachers. Those investing their lives in science and math courses were often unsure as to the relevance of reading in their future classrooms. Realization that reading was the cornerstone to success in each course had to be established, as the three R’s were explored.
I tell people that today we are a household that is book-poor; I guess there could be worse things to spend our money on. John was kind to buy my chosen books for Mother’s Day; they are waiting patiently on the stack in the sun room.
Do you think I might be addicted to reading? Are you? (By the way, I have two others: chocolate and coffee. They all three mesh well together.)
Sheila Ingle 