A Good Reader

       Vladimir Nobakov says that a good reader is one that has an imagination, a memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense.  He talks about how the more you read a novel or a piece of literature the more you become acquainted with it.  You can read it and get more out of it then the first initial reading.  I would dare say that I have to agree with him.  I feel that a good reader is one that can loose themselves in what they are reading.  Whether it is a book of fiction or Non-fiction, one that is a good reader can set all else aside and focus on the authors words.  Another thing that I think makes a good reader is to not pass judgement or think critical of a piece of literature until you have read through it completely.  Then maybe even read it again in case you have missed something.  Sometimes different events in life can bring a whole new perspective to light that has never been thought of before.  Everyone experiences things differently.  So maybe reread something that you may not have related to before but circumstances now may have changed that. 

    I have always considered myself as a good reader.  Ever since I was a little girl my father instilled in me a passion for the written word.  I remember that he said that he would not spend his money on toys we had to use our own money for those.  However, he would be willing to buy any amount of books that we desired as long as we read them.  It would drive him crazy when I would be in a room with the television on  but completely lost in a book.  I have always been able to block everything out and concentrate completely on what I was reading.  There have been times where I have read books over and over again.  Some of these books would be the collection of one of my favorite authors, Jane Austen.  Nobakov briefly mentions her in his article asking whether we could believe her words because of her own life experiences.  Something that I have always enjoyed about Jane Austen is that in spite of what people may think of her she wrote about what she knew.  She new of love and of loss, she also knew what it was to try to succeed in a world when because she was a women she was limited.  http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/jausten.html  My favorite of all of her novels is probably Emma, I have read it numerous times, and each time I never get bored.  I can picture myself in that life.  So because of I love to read and I consider myself a good reader, I hope that someday I can instill my passion for reading in my children.