Analysis Of The Lonely Good Company Of Books

The Lonely, Good Company of Books
In “The Lonely, Good Company of Books,” by Richard Rodriguez, you learn that Rodriguez had read hundreds of books before he was a teenager, but never truly understood what he was reading. His parents never encouraged him to read and thought the only time you needed to read, was for work. Since his parents never encouraged Rodriguez to read it effected how he perceived books. During school Rodriguez would hear teachers talk about how books needed to be cared for and how they open your mind. Reading was considered a chore and he never thought of it as being remotely interesting. Everywhere he went there was always something saying how great books were and how it helped you discover new worlds of imagination.

In the library she would alternate what types of books they would read. Whenever she would read to him she would read in a way that made you cling to every word the author wrote. In times like these, Rodriguez would become engaged in these books. “I sat there and sensed for the very first time some possibility of fellowship between reader and writer, a communication, never intimate like that I heard spoken words at home convey, but nonetheless personal.” (Rodriguez 228). During this part of Rodriguez’s life, his view towards books changed.
The fourth grade was when Rodriguez started actively reading. Reading was something that was always a constant for him, day or night. His parents couldn’t understand why he was so obsessed with reading all the time since they only read for necessity. Rodriguez greatly enjoyed reading and found himself reading all sorts of novels at “…the local public library…under a tree in the park…sitting on a porch, or in bed.” (Rodriguez 229). By the time he was in high school, he had read hundreds of books, which had improved his

My parents encouraged me to read all kinds of books, which was something that Rodriguez didn’t have. I grew to love reading, using my imagination as much as I could. Going to the library was always an adventure for me since I could pick out as many books as I wanted. My parents were always active readers, I found myself doing the same. You could never find me without a book nearby. With Rodriguez you can see why he never saw the enjoyment of reading, since his parents only saw it as a necessity, he would think the same. It’s important to have a point of view when reading any book because it helps you better understand what the author is trying to convey. During school my favorite part was when we had silent sustained reading (also known as SSR) for a certain amount of time. I enjoyed being able to have time to be able to read whatever book I was on at the time. From kindergarten to eighth grade we would have quizzes on whatever book you read. Certain books would have a certain number of points assigned to them and you would take a quiz on the computer and depending how many questions you got right determined how many points you received. Everyone was assigned a certain amount of points based on your reading comprehension level and how many books you were able to read for each semester. The size of the book and the material was how the points were assigned. For example the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown would only be