A Time to Talk

by Elliott D. Landau, Ph.D.

Let’s take this time to talk about reading. Reading should be a snuggly, cuddly sort of thing. When you watch television, you can be almost anywhere; but when you choose a book it is time to go to a secret place—your very own out-of-the-way spot—so that you and that book can become good friends.

You see, television makes you follow what happens on the screen as it happens. And once it has happened, it is gone forever. But books are different. What is in a book is yours whenever you want it. All you have to do is turn the page and go back to what you enjoyed a moment ago or yesterday or last year. A book is a forever thing. A book is yours to touch, to hold, to read, to look at whenever you please. Reading is a time to be alone with yourself and with the people in the book. When you want to say “hello” to it again, just take yourself to a favorite hiding place, turn the pages to where you want to be, and stay there for as long as you like.

To read is to live in another world for just a minute, half an hour, or at certain moments throughout your life. Here are some books you might enjoy.