R is Reading Room

I know not everyone likes to read books but whether you do or not I am sure you appreciate having a quiet spot, a bench, a porch swing or if your lucky enough to have a reading room or a library. I have a list of my top 15 books that changed my life in some way. I also have a list of my favorite bookstores in my area and one favorite breakfast nook where you could read till your heart was content, if you had a babysittter LOL
Top bookstores in Hudson valley
Fine arts near Vassar College this is a very small quaint bookstore I have been going to since I was 12 or 13. It is run by one man- his name is Walter, and I love the books he chooses to put in the window.
It reminds me of a quote from Italo Calvino (IF on a winter's night a traveler)

In the shop window you have promptly indentified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following the visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven't Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you... And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of books that if you had more than one life you would certainly also read but unfortunately your days are numbered. With a rapid maneuver your  bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the books you mean to read but there are others you must read first, the books too expensive now and you'll wait till they're remaindered, the books ditto when they come out in paperback, books you can borrow from somebody, books that everybody's read so It's as if you had read them, too.

bookstore number two is Meritt bok store in Millbrook, NYwww.merrittbooks.com
and the last small books store is Millerton, Ny Oblong books www.oblongbooks.com
and of course the big commerical Barnes and Noble which I do LOVE.
The Tattered cover, in Denver colorado THE BEST BOOKSTORE
Top 15 books.
1. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
2. Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones
3. Perfection by Julie Mertz
4. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
5. Kitchen Confidential Adventures in the culinary underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
6.My life as a Funny red monster by Kevin Clash ( about Elmo)
7. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
8. Glass Houses by Jeanette Walls
9. The secret Life of bees by Sue monk kidd
10.Eckhart Tole A New Earth 
11. The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick
12. The Shack  by William Young
13. The eat clean diet cook book by Tosca Reno
14. Living, loving and learning by Leo Buscaglia
15. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. salinger

I have a huge children's library in my home of hard cover books I have purchased and collected for many years when I was a teenager, so I would have a great library if and when I had a child. I soon became a teacher and I used the books in my classrooms, but now I am at home again and I enjoy going to the shelf and reading him the title of his choice. 
Here is another book quote I love....
"There are 10,000 books in my library,and it will keep growing until I die. This has exasperated my daughters, amused my friends and baffled my accountant. If I had not picked up this habit in the library long ago, I would have more money in the bank today; I would not be richer. Pete Hamill D'artagnan on ninth street: A brooklyn boy at the library
READING is RELAXING and if you don't like to READ yourself and you have children be sure to REALLY expose you children to READING. Just read to your child 20 minutes a day. Get off the computer or "crack berry" and read a book to your child or several.
Next post is letter S
Next post is letter S
If you have time drop me your top 5 reads that saved your life, or changed it.
so after you have all the books and time you need find a great reading room or reading place and go read, my dream day would be to go to the main street Cafe in Highland and eat breakfast and read.

highlandmainstreetcafe.com