JJL in February, 2008: What do we learn by reading books?
In our Joyful Jubilant Learning Community, February is a month for reading, and indulging our deep, almost fanatical passion for books.
A love of reading is something we seem to have in common here, writers and readers alike, and February is a month we get overly zealous at it, as if floodgates of heaven-sent permission were opened.
We are book people through and through, and proud of it.
In February, we become newly determined to attack those stacks of not-yet-read purchases on our nightstands, coffee tables and desk corners that have started to tower and wobble because we just can't say no when we walk in a bookstore.
We can't look away, and not click on the links within those tempting email blitzes which arrive in our inboxes from online sellers... they aren't spam, we gave them our addresses willingly, spelling them out legibly!
Why February?
Because every March, the JJL month is completely dedicated to the forum of book reviews we call A Love Affair with Books. At least one book review is published each day, presenting the most compelling reason of all to escape in our library-like self-induced nirvana: Recommendations from a community of like-minded, book-loving lifelong learners.
Usually, we just jump right in on March 1st. This year however, we're going to warm up in February, and ask our contributing authors to write for us on this question:
What did you learn from reading a book about it?
Yes, past tense, what did they learn, and why did they choose a book to teach it to them?
At first it seems we all can just answer, "A lot!" and make a seemingly endless list. However if you think back over your purchases, certain ones happened at certain times: You were pulled into those clearly marked aisles of the library or bookstore for some pretty specific reasons.
We are all a collection of learning stories, and this month, I'm betting we can learn from our writers' past experiences, and get doubly inspired for the new ones we will surely be presented with in March.
At the end of their story, our authors will be asking you if you learned the same thing from another book, or in a completely different, not-reading way. We are hoping to get some discussion going in which we can compare notes!
By the way, if you would like to contribute your own story and answer the question, email it to our Community mailbox: We would love to publish it for you. And start reading and writing your own book reviews... you can participate in A Love Affair with Books in March too! Watch for that shout-out near month's end.
Make sure you are subscribed: 29 days in February this year!
~ Rosa Say for Joyful Jubilant Learning
Flickr photos by Earl - What I Saw 2.0, by margolove, and by ciro@tokyo. Click on each for the photographer's page.
February will be an interesting month. Thanks for kicking this off Rosa!
Posted by: Steve Sherlock | February 02, 2008 at 06:39 PM