A young man -- taller than the bookshelves -- declares that he has "never read a book." He seems proud.
In Negotiating With the Dead* -- a series of lectures on writing -- Margaret Atwood muses that the childhoods of writers often contain "books and solitude."
"There were no films or theatres in the North, and the radio didn't work very well," she writes. "But there were always books." Her mother liked quietness in children, and "a child who is reading is very quiet." Atwood read everything she could get her hands on.
We don't know whether the young man in our store had books while growing up. We do know that when he had a book report to write, he had his mother do it for him. He told us that. We expressed shock and did our best to lure him into reading. Someday, perhaps something in our store window or more likely someone of influence will lure him back.
*Margaret Atwood, Negotiating With the Dead, A Writer on Writing, Cambridge, 2002, p 7.
In Negotiating With the Dead* -- a series of lectures on writing -- Margaret Atwood muses that the childhoods of writers often contain "books and solitude."
"There were no films or theatres in the North, and the radio didn't work very well," she writes. "But there were always books." Her mother liked quietness in children, and "a child who is reading is very quiet." Atwood read everything she could get her hands on.
We don't know whether the young man in our store had books while growing up. We do know that when he had a book report to write, he had his mother do it for him. He told us that. We expressed shock and did our best to lure him into reading. Someday, perhaps something in our store window or more likely someone of influence will lure him back.
*Margaret Atwood, Negotiating With the Dead, A Writer on Writing, Cambridge, 2002, p 7.
Photos: by Lorna. Click on photo to view larger.
