My family’s hobby, one thing we all do and could not do without, is reading. At parties there’s usually a point where everyone pulls out their book and we all sit together blissfully immersed in separate worlds and avenues of thought.

My grandfather worked six days a week for most of his life, but if he was home and wasn’t telling stories he was reading. He would read while eating, walking, and settling down for a nap. The happiest hours I had as a teenager were spent with Papa, simply reading.

Usually it was at the claw foot oak dining room table, where we would sit for hours as the light changed, sipping water and eating soup. He always crushed crackers into his while I nabbed the french bread. Sometimes if he was tired he would read on his bed, and I would stretch out on the sunlit turquoise carpet, in case he needed anything. It was wonderful to spend those years with him. When Papa passed away most of what he physically left us were his hundreds of books. Many of the books on my bookcases were his, including the copy of In the Beginning.

When I began it last week I plunged in and didn’t check the front cover. Sunday, Father’s Day, I opened it and found the inscription
To Warren -
Happy Father’s Day!
Love,
Linda
June 1980

In an effort to spend less money I’ve been playing WoW and reading more of the books I already have.

Yesterday I was walking through one of our bookcase hallways and the name “Chaim Potok” leapt out at me. I stopped and pulled it off the shelf; a yellowed 1975 paperback copy of In the Beginning. I read My Name is Asher Lev and Davita’s Harp last summer, and finished The Gift of Asher Lev about a month ago. In the Beginning starts wonderfully, with a simple but striking line;

“All beginnings are hard.”

I’m also still reading Michael Strassfeld’s A Book of Life. I began it in October when Rabbi Noa Kushner told me to buy it, 1) because she loves it and 2) because it’s one of the books used in the conversion class. It’s so full and enjoyable that I’m intentionally taking my time with it, and much of it is underlined in pencil.