Everyday a new technology is suggested for you: Buy this smartphone! You NEED this laptop! How can you live life without this four-hundred dollar iPod!?
Call me old-fashioned, please, call me old-fashioned, I’ll take it as a compliment, but I think we all need to slow down and look away from the screen every once in a while and look at some good old ink and paper.
That is the function of this blog. Instead of pushing some new and improved form of electronic entertainment on you, I’ll take you back to the days of old by suggesting a different book for you to read each week, all of which I have read and loved myself. And, yes, I realize the irony of criticizing technology on an internet blog. Every medium has its own value, I’m just pushing the value of incorporating a classic medium into your modern routine.
Perhaps if you are going to trust my taste, I should introduce myself so that you have some idea what I am all about.
My name is Kasey Tveit. I am a 21-year-old junior at SUNY New Paltz and creative writing major. I have been reading and writing recreationally my entire life. Before I could read I was read to; I have to say that my love of literature began with Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. The first two books I ever read by myself were The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
As a child I did not play video games. I did not have a PSP or iPhone (like the eight year old sitting next to me on my flight back from Hawaii this June, who had both). When I was younger than five, I played with my parents’ typewriter and circulated a magazine amongst everyone I knew–my sister and parents– for entertainment. The magazine consisted of short stories, descriptions of random objects, pictures I drew, and sometimes even poems, like in the “magazine” I recently found while doing some house cleaning: “I no a dog; His hed is silvr.”
Now that I am older and can read, write, and even spell correctly, I still entertain myself by reading and writing. I lost count of how many books I read this summer. I think I averaged three a week, some new, some old, all great.
In my opinion, a book is a quality read if and only if it can be read and enjoyed more than once. Keep this in mind while reading my suggestions. I will not throw just any book your way. Trust me when I say I am an intense lover of literature and have created this blog in hope to spread this love to anyone and everyone. I especially feel people my age and younger need to read more. Reading enhances spelling, vocabulary, and writing skills, not to mention life in general and capacity for creative thought.
I hope you enjoy this blog and the books I suggest. Please feel free to comment and share your opinions, especially if they concern the literature. I would love to hear how you feel about the books, what your favorite scenes are, who your favorite characters are and why, etc.
