A Dad’s Gift of Reading

by

Lauren Roberts

 

When we think about where our love of reading comes from, it almost always has to do with a significant person in our lives sharing books and reading with us. Often it is a parent or stepparent, occasionally it can be a teacher, older sibling, aunt or uncle, or a mentor who has taken an interest in us.

My love of books and reading is a gift from my parents I have never taken for granted. Unlike many gifts which have been used up and wear out, the gift of reading has multiplied itself throughout the years of my life, each book adding its own thread to the fabric that is “me.”

I can remember him, even after workdays that were exhausting, sitting with me and either reading to me or helping me translate the individual letters into words and those words into sentences that made a story. Sometimes I’d sit on his lap and he would hold a book in front of me. At other times, I would read to him. I can’t remember when that started to change. I am certain that by the time I was devouring the Nancy Drew stories we no longer read together. It didn’t matter because he had already instilled in me his enthusiasm for the reading experience. 

Nowadays, my dad and I only rarely share the same taste in books. He likes John Grisham’s legal thrillers and Tom Clancy’s military ones as well as Stephen Ambrose and E.L. Doctorow. But he also likes nonfiction, and found two audio books that I gave him last year—The Johnston Flood and Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship—compelling bedtime listening for months.

A few years ago he surprised and dismayed me by saying he had never and wasn’t interested in reading a book by a woman. He’s not going to change his ways now so I gritted my teeth and didn’t argue, but I’ve often thought it was a shame I hadn’t introduced him to Barbara Tuchman early on because he does like history, and she is outstanding. I am sure he would have enjoyed The Guns of August. He’s recommended several books to me, but the one we have talked about the most is Two Years Before the Mast, a fascinating look at California and sailors’ lives in the nineteenth century.

I sometimes think it would be a complete circle if I were to read a story to him—and maybe that opportunity  might come if not on Father’s Day then soon. While there may be only one day a year labeled as “Father’s Day,” I like to use each day to give a moment of thought to the man who I am fortunate enough to call “dad.” Alas, he won’t see this column since he can’t read well these days, but he will hear it. I will sit beside him on Father’s Day and read it aloud to him. Maybe I’ll even read him a chapter of one of his favorite books after I share with him my gratitude for the gifts he has given me—his love, his unselfishness, his work ethic, his values, his respect and the gift of reading. Because, really, no man could have done any better.

P.S. Happy Father’s Day to BiblioBuffet’s Henry Carrigan of “Readings” and Paul Clark, our soon-to-debut writer of “A Walk Through My Bookshelves.”


Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, 800 bookmarks and approximately 1,000 books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) and Book Publicists of Southern California as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. You can reach her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it