I'm a very lucky mother. My children are healthy, well-adjusted and finding their way in a complicated world. Three of my children love to read. Two of them probably read more than I do and spend lots of their own money on books. The three of us constantly recommend books to each other. It's fun.
My teenage daughter likes some books my son and I don't really care to read. Sometimes she's in the same room with me, reading, when something in the book makes her laugh out loud. I've heard her laughing when she's alone in a room. Sometimes I've read the same book and have to wonder what she finds so funny. It's not that something didn't amuse me, but the prose never inspires me to laughter. Why?
Does my daughter simply have a lighter spirit than me, untouched by the dark parts of life that tarnish joy? Perhaps she falls deeper into the fictional world of the novel and experiences the emotions shown in the story with more fully. Or do I not laugh out loud because of the chains of inhibitions preventing such a public display of enjoyment? Sometimes I cry reading a book but I never laugh except on the inside.
What about you? Do you laugh out loud when you read? Can a book make you cry?
5 comments:
Remember when you used to laugh so hard it would hurt your stomach? I think it's part of getting older that you don't laugh as much as you used to (or as hard). Or maybe it's just me.
mood
Moody Writing
@mooderino
I do laugh out loud if I read something funny. I'll relay the funniness to wifey who does not always share the same sense of humor I have. Sometimes you just have to laugh alone in this world.
We still laugh out loud hard enough to get a belly ache, Mooderino, though not as often as we should.
Stephen, you help lots of us to laugh on your clever blog. But you're right. Sometimes we laugh alone.
I have laughed at things I've read, and yes, books have made me cry. Not too often, though. I can probably count on one hand the ones that have done so. But when they do, the book becomes a favorite as I wonder about the author's ability to do this, bring tears.
Never cried over a book (not even my own, although I've thought about it) but I've laughed out loud many times.
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