"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." — Joseph Addison

Mother had some books she gave me so she could unclutter her condo. Among those books I found a treasure.

It likely wouldn't be of value to anyone else. The book is well-marked, paper-clipped and dog-eared with many notes written on scraps of paper in my mother's sure hand. It's titled "Immortal Wife" by Irving Stone.

Being the oldest child, I must have been the right age to remember her efforts creating a good review for her book club all those years ago. She worried and practiced and practiced and worried. I remember watching her. The book club brought her friendship, allowed her to develop a talent and broadened her mind outsid her world of cookie crumbs and diapers.

American aphorist Mason Cooley spoke the truth when he said, "Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are."

One book club to which I belonged chose the theme — "Our Neighbors to the East."

A member, Dawn Brimley, wrote about her reasons for selecting them: "The books we read this year will expect us to discover the reality of globalization in our world. The twenty-first century has seen the phenomena of instant information, instant communication, rapid transportation, and widespread immigration. The world really has become smaller and somehow we must all learn to assimilate and live together on this beautiful earth of ours. As we read these great books in that spirit, we cannot avoid learning and understanding. The people of the Middle East really are our neighbors."

After reading the books, I thought you might like the titles, because I learned so much about life in the Middle East from reading them.

"Desert Queen" by Janet Wallach had me mesmerized. The book "Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind" was the only one that wasn't an autobiography but still factually portrayed the experiences of desert living. "Iran Awakening" is the story of Shirin Ebadi who won the Nobel Peace Prize. Azar Nafisim, who unlike Shiriin Ebadi finally gave up Iran and now lives in the United States, wrote an insightful comparison of the power of literature in the face of tyranny in her book "Reading Lolita in Tehran."

"Climbing the Mango Trees" by Madhur Jaffrey is her story of growing up in India. And the last one, "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin is about Mortenson's compassion for the people of Pakistan building schools in the far reaches of Pakistan.

They are all great reads.

"Some books are to be tasted," Francis Bacon advised. "Others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed and digested."

That's why we have our personal preferences and times and seasons to read.

My friend Kathy Blackhurst will read a book I give her and enjoy it. But her first literary loves are detective stories or mysteries. I prefer to learn about people and places and enjoy good writing — no Harlequin novel for me, please. That's why I am laughing at myself right now, because after reading all those terrific books, I finally picked up the copy of "Twilight" someone gave me and started reading a few pages. Pulled me right in. Rather a nice change, that make-believe.

After all, shouldn't reading be FUNdamental as well as informative?

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