reading lives and thrives

judging by the 130-plus people who turned up at my local library tonight, to hear Maxine Hong Kingston, Jon Carroll, April Sinclair, and Cynthia Gorney, talk about what they read and why.

The free coffee and snacks may have had something to do with it. But they're not what made people stay, for 2 hours, in a hot muggy room. Listening to the panelists, coming up with my own responses to the questions:

How do I choose what I read?
What does reading do for me?

got me re-inspired again. About the magic of books for their own sake - not for research, not to stay current with what everyone else is talking about, not because I "should". Cynthia Gorney said she's currently indulging in an orgy of Wodehouse at bedtime, to counter the grimness of the research reading on her current work project. It relieved the sense of guilt I feel these days when I browse fiction, instead of reading stuff directly related to Migritude.