Ed Lynskey's Blog: Cracked Rearview Mirror - Posts Tagged "ya"

On New Year's Day, we decided to splurge and eat lunch out at our favorite Indian restaurant's buffet. I saw a young girl, maybe she was ten or eleven, seated at a table and she was reading an honest-to-goodness book in her lap. I couldn't see its cover and have no idea what it was or who wrote it. Harry Potter or some such YA, maybe. It came as a bit of a surprise. I just haven't seen anybody, much less a young person, reading a book in public for a while. Maybe she was being grounded and had her cell phone confiscated. But she appeared to be absorbed and entertained by the storyline. Just a passing observation, it's stuck with me.

That's an old saying I recall from when I was growing up. Maybe it's a Southern aphorism. The library burning down part disturbed me as a kid. Losing our local library to a fire seemed like a cruel, unfair tragedy to me.

I envy those readers who today can revisit the libraries of their youth. The memories must flood back. Good memories, too. Relish it if you can go there. It's a touchstone. Our library moved after I graduated from high school into a spanky new facility.

You know, the new carpet smells, harsh overhead lights, and big oak tables. Don't get me wrong. It's a fine library. But I miss prowling in the old cramped, dim stacks of the quaint one. The musty odor that's unique to printed books stays with me like honeysuckle whiffed on sultry July nights. The old library had a fireplace inside it! I've visited one other library with a fireplace in posh Lake Forest north of Chicago.

I wonder if my reading Westerns (Zane Grey) and mysteries (Ross Macdonald) now is a subconscious try to return to wander through those book stacks. I'm getting in touch with the kid in me. I want to feel again the same visceral response to reading books for the sheer fun of it.

Could it be cynical adulthood robs us of the enjoyment to read? I sure hope not. I'll be returning soon to check out more--you guessed it--Westerns and mysteries from our library.

Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
author of Lake Charles and Quiet Anchorage

For this post of my first reading influences, I going to omit the obvious but all-important role of my parents. So, who else is left? Well, my grandfather was a big reader of the classic pulps like Mr. Spillane's Mike Hammer, so he's mine.

The teachers had some pull. I recall the Scholastic Books biographies of historical figures that I read in the 4th grade. I'm not sure how I had the time to read them in class, but I did. The public library comes to mind. I checked out Zane Grey and Hardy Boys by the bushel. The Batman and Green Hornet comic books had an early appeal for me.

Remember the Walt Disney Children's vinyl LPs like of Swiss Family Robinson, Robin Hood, and Treasure Island? I played the grooves out of those albums. It wasn't reading per se, but it was vivid storytelling just the same. I wish I was a kid again to give them a listen with the same rapt attention that I had back then.

Happy reading to you and yours!

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Definitely recommend you take a fictional journey to Lake Charles."
Elizabeth A. White's Musings of an All Purpose Monkey