This post is part of Reading While Parenting, a monthly feature at A Wonderful Mess, where we delve into exactly how parents can read and what reading can add to parenthood. Reading While Parenting essays come once a month, except when there are “reading club” June through August. And it’s coming soon, starting June 1st!
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A mix of birthday book thoughts, short and sweet, so no audio this week.
May is my birthday month, and this stirred up the idea of birthday books. Birthday books can mean more than one thing…those books we might receive for our birthday, or books that somehow connect to birthdays. Come on in and have a slice of cake. We’re short and sweet today.
The gift of a book
It may be no surprise to you all that I really like books as gifts. And in the last few years, I have bought myself books for my birthday. Now, I often buy books throughout the year, but somehow, it’s the intention behind buying them on the date of my birth that makes it feel celebratory. These are gifts for me from me. I recently picked up the new Maria Semple, Go Gentle*, as an early gift for myself, and Emma Straub’s American Fantasy* may be calling me back to my favorite bookstore soon.
Books as birthday gifts go way back in my life. Along with whatever Barbie doll or My Little Pony I wanted, my parents gifted us a book for birthdays. And I still have many of them. They have messages inscribed by my mother in all of them. My daughter loves to read these messages. In fact, really all holidays and milestone events were accompanied by a book gift. And this may be why I still get a little celebratory feeling when I get a new book. I have generally followed in my mother’s footsteps, and the gifting of books is a common practice with my kids.
So here is my PSA: books are always a great gift. Even when you are uncertain what book to pick for your recipient, give a gift certificate to an independent bookstore. Now it becomes an experience gift. They get to go to glorious bookstore land and pick something they enjoy.
Books about birthdays
Imagine the serendipitous feeling when I recently opened up Maurene Goo’s book, One & Only*, and discovered the main character, Cassia’s birthday month is…May. Now, Cassia and I may share our birthday month, but our similarities are limited as I am not searching for my fated as she is in the book. And it’s a great search, my friends. Highly recommend. But I digress. There was something so perfect about picking up a book whose plot is tied to a birthday around the time of my own birthday. What a gift, universe, you know me so well. It’s fun to find those little threads of connection in our reading experiences.
Moments, memories, and stories
I had already started writing this post when this issue of the Readable Moments newsletter came into my inbox from Sri Juneja.
In addition to a fun list of books about birthdays for kids, Sri also shares one of her own memorable birthday moments:
“There wasn’t any cake. There was no party. Not even any presents. But it was, and continues to be, a moment in time I felt deeply, unconditionally loved.”
Memories are moments, sometimes just one, sometimes many strung together. They become a story of our lives when revisited, retold, and remembered.
A beautiful thing about having a reading life is the moments of the stories we read, sometimes true and sometimes fiction, that somehow connect with our own.
Reading provides a tapestry of time that is both familiar to us: the birthdays, milestones, births, and deaths, but also separate. Reading is both outside and within at the same time. And that is a gift.
Perhaps this is just me getting all philosophical with the passage of another year. But I certainly find myself grateful for many things on this birthday, and reading is definitely one of them.
Some links to reading reflections of others (not necessarily birthday related):
Just a handful of reading-related tidbits for you.
I really appreciate Sarah Miller’s perspective on making time for reading (and housework).
Enjoying reading Petya K. Grady’s insights after writing her newsletter for two years.
The Messy Summer Reading Club is almost here, I am busy getting it ready for another year.
The When: Starts June 1 with weekly Monday posts until August 17th (except for a couple monthly round-ups in there)
The Where: Here on A Wonderful Mess (nothing to do if you are already a subscriber)
The What: Short posts each week about a reading related topic plus something to try out (or not, this isn’t school my friends), a practical reading tip, and the comments section that can be a great resource for your next read and a place to chat about any reading conundrums you are having.
The Why: Because parents deserve a vibrant reading life in all the seasons!
The comments section is what we make of it. Feel free to answer any or all of the questions below.
Now I am interested in making a list of adult books about birthdays. Any titles come to mind?
Do you write messages in books you gift?
Share any good recent reads or books you are excited to get into.
May you readers find books for your moments whatever they may be.
Back to my celebrating. You know what goes well with books…cake,
Kathryn
Haha great minds, Kathryn! Happy early birthday, friend. ❤️