Aging with Grace

You learn to write by reading and writing, writing and reading. As a craft it’s acquired through the apprentice system, but you choose your own teachers. Sometimes they’re alive, sometimes dead.

Margaret Atwood.

Like most writers I am a voracious and sometimes indiscriminate reader. I do find as I become older I’m a little less inclined to read something to the end if it hasn’t captured my interest. There was a time when once I opened a book I would read it through to the last page no matter how painful the experience. I think I’ve become more protective of how I spend my time. I do find I’m as likely to be reading three books at one time as I am to be reading one. From the time I first learned to read and my grandmother would take me to the library until today, I have always made time to read.

Several year ago, I joined a book club. It’s very informal. Everyone takes turns choosing a book for the month. We meet on a Sunday morning, usually at a coffee house, and somewhere in the conversation we discuss the book we’ve read. I like that I am pushed to read something I might not otherwise read. It’s interesting to hear what others think of the book. Our group is made up of women of all different ages and personalities. We often have several divergent interpretations of the same book. As with any art form, we all see it somewhat differently. Isn’t that what makes art interesting? It strikes  a different chord in each of us.