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The Joy of Reading


The Little Book Place's owner, Stacy Hovan, and her family are all big readers. We'll be posting an interview with her son Henry next week. So we thought we'd ask her husband Paul to share his story about why he enjoys reading as well. Here's what he had to say.


 

The first book(s) I remember being excited by were the Hardy Boys books that my Mom and Dad read to me before bed. Another standout is Kavik the Wolf Dog. I think this was one of the first books that showed me that a book could transport you to another place and time. That you could be a part of exciting, dangerous adventures from wherever you were, without ever leaving your seat, or having to risk anything. It also created my lifelong dream of owning a hybrid wolf dog. That’s a dream I haven’t realized but the newest addition to our family, Duke, an Akita, is close. And he’s a sweetheart. A protective, sweetheart. 

 

As far as genres go, I enjoy both fiction and nonfiction. I will usually alternate between the two. After reading historical nonfiction about concentration camps during WW2, I will usually need to read a novel about something a little less serious. Stephen King is one of my favorite authors and I’m doing my best to read all his work. His Dark Tower series is one of my favorites. I think I read the Hobbit before I read the Dark Tower, but between The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and the Dark Tower series, I developed a love of fantasy novels. Reading fantasy books allowed me to be transported to another world. I could experience adventures that would never be possible without reading. The only limit was the author’s imagination. 

 

When I take on a new project, hobby, or challenge I will usually read as much as I can about it. With the popularity of YouTube, I do find a lot of information there but that wasn’t always the case. When I wanted to figure out how to run my diesel truck on homemade biodiesel and then vegetable oil, I read everything I could on the subject for almost a year before building a reactor and making my first batch of biodiesel. 

 

My passion for reading is something I share with my wife Stacy and something we were able to pass on to our son Henry. I asked him to think about why he loves to read, and this was his explanation: “Because it takes me to another world and it may help you make new friends, and it gets my brain going!”


Initially, I struggled trying to find the right words to start this post. Anyone who knows me knows I usually won’t shut up. The first thing that came to my mind about why I love to read was “It takes me to another world.” I was a little worried that that didn’t sound cool enough. Hearing Henry instantly say that’s why he loves reading made me so proud and I knew that was absolutely the right thing. I love to read because it takes me to another world. It might be the American West in the 1800s or it might be the Westeros. Either way I love it. And I’m guessing you might too! 


-Paul Hovan

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