“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” Cicero

Chatting with three middle-aged sisters, I asked, "Do you read books?"

"No, we never do." 

How can this be? They saw my surprise and went on, "We never developed the habit of book-reading. We didn't have books when we were kids."

That gave me pause.

I grew up in an area with public libraries within walking distance. If I wanted a book that wasn't at my local branch, the librarian would order it to be sent from another. Bookmobiles stopped on my street regularly. Shelves in my parents' house were filled with books. I grew up reading for pleasure every day, and in my childish way, I assumed that was what everyone did.

Life was not like that in Kagoshima in the 1960's. There was one library in the city. The ladies explained, "We lived in the countryside. Our parents didn't have any books. We never took buses and would have never thought to go to a library. Besides," one of the sisters went on, "our parents used their money to buy food, not books."

It's hard for me to imagine a childhood without books, but I suppose that is the norm rather than the exception in this wide world. May I never take them for granted again.

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." Jacqueline Kennedy