[speaker001:] well there's been a lot of publicity lately about that new Nancy Reagan book out by uh Kitty Kelly the unauthorized biography are you interested in that at all
[speaker002:] not really I'm not much of a fan of Nancy Reagan so I I don't particularly read um biographies or autobiographies
[speaker001:] no uh-huh
[speaker002:] no I haven't read too many I I'm more of a fiction and nonfiction reader that not not of that nature though so
[speaker001:] uh-huh well I the reason why I was thinking about looking at it is because it's supposed to I'm not a fan of Nancy Reagan and so it's supposed to have a lot of unflattering things in it and I thought just purely for entertainment I might enjoy that but I I wouldn't want to go out and buy it like you know the hard back copy of it
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but I might check
[speaker002:] if they if they had it I don't even know that I'd probably read it even if it was at the library though you know I I just you know I'm just not really interested in reading about other people's lives to that degree you know unless maybe they lived a long long time ago
[speaker001:] really uh-huh
[speaker002:] for me it would be interesting to find out what life was that life you know in that period but
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] not not really interested no
[speaker001:] in biographies well I uh I have read some biographies I prefer to read if I read a biography it's mostly because maybe I have to uh you know back when I was in school I had to have information about that person or um preparing some kind of lesson and I need to have
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] more information about people but I I do like to read some biographies but that one just sounded like gossipy and I wouldn't want to sit down and just read it cover to cover but flip through just for just to get a good laugh
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah I think the last biography that I read I'm not I think it was was um on Lady Randolph Churchill Churchill's mother and that was excellent
[speaker001:] uh-huh was it
[speaker002:] uh yeah it was it's in two parts I think the first one is called Jenny or something like that uh because that was her name and um I only got to read one part of it and I've been looking for
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know the other half but didn't read the I read the half where she was in her later years and it was absolutely excellent and it was very descriptive of of people with money back then and uh affluents in in England uh uh that you know were associated to the king and all and it was
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] it was really pretty fascinating and I and that was actually a couple of years ago so
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] it's it's been a while since I've read any biographies
[speaker001:] well
[speaker002:] but I love to read I mean I'm constantly reading I read I like uh mysteries and I like um as far as improving myself uh I haven't read any lately but I was reading classical works that I hadn't read before you know that you might have needed to read in school but that I just didn't read for some reason or another another or that you know that you can only
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] read so many in school that they make a requirement of and yet there are so many out there
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] that uh that you you know you never get a chance to read and so I said well I think it was because I read um Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and I just
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] I mean that even when I read it now it still makes me cry the ending of it and I couldn't believe I I could not believe that it took me so long to read such a good book I'd read some Dickens before but I hadn't read that one and I I was like I thought to myself
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know what other things are out there that are that are classics you know that have withstood time and that are just excellent something's excellent about them
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] whether it's the way they were written or whether it was the material they were written you know that was written about and um so I started reading I had this like you know I had a binge of my mother uh I was living in Bermuda at the time with my husband but my uh mother sent me you know like booklet you know uh boxes full of different books
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] and uh she just would get them real cheap and stuff and send them over but she she is quite familiar with I guess because it seems like uh older people have much better um in their schooling they they got more of the classics than I did you know and she knows so much more of them than I do I wouldn't even know you know to go look for that author or that book
[speaker001:] uh-huh right
[speaker002:] yeah so
[speaker001:] well I like the classics too uh I think that there's a lot of books out now that are kind of garbage books and I well I don't prefer to read a lot of the things like you might find at uh well like at a Target or a supermarket or something where they have a bunch of books out paperback type books usually I
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] I'm going to the book store for a particular reason um
[speaker002:] uh-hum probably you read a book review or something some kind of review on it
[speaker001:] yes yes and and uh I buy some of the not self-improvement books but uh self-help books like we just bought a new house so I bought a couple of books about how to buy a house and what to look for you know and or how to
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] repair this or repair that in your own home I bought that for my husband and or how to how to do something books you know for reference and uh
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and those are really helpful I think in helping um well you know like some what symptoms medical symptoms like when how do you know when to take your child to the doctor or not
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] type books which I have use as reference and have been real handy but purely just for enjoyment I I had a major in English and linguistics and so I have have a lot of books in my home that I can read from the classics and I do enjoy those quite a bit and um so I tend to for reading just day to day uh you know I have a particular book I'm looking for or I just enjoy uh you know the newspaper magazine
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] it's handy
[speaker002:] well what I do is I usually have two books at one time I have a classic which I have to work on basically you know what uh just depending well some authors I can just you know basically drink in but others I really do have to work at them and then um whether you know they're a foreign author or whatever
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um or if it's their style or or just understanding the material and then I you know it some of those it's like I said it's like school you have to work at it but to me it's worthwhile in the end I feel good about it and I usually remember those a long time later and then I have the books that I read just
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] purely for enjoyment you know I mean just light reading that I particularly like Dick Francis books and just some of the the authors that are uh for mysteries just you know just
[speaker001:] light reading
[speaker002:] uh purely for entertainment you know that's it I'm not really expecting to get anything out of it except to be momentarily pleased you know because I don't I can never remember the plots or anything
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh  right
[speaker002:] later on those books
[speaker001:] well I think that's good because you do have to use your mind and imagine up the circumstances and things it's not like uh most television where you you know you just you can sit there and not even pay attention very much but still understand what was going on
[speaker002:] yeah oh yeah that television it gives you everything
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] so it's basically mindless I mean all your you the only really thing you are having to use is connecting the things that they give you you know what you're hearing and your your sight uh your sight but they give you everything else
[speaker001:] right right
[speaker002:] it's usually the television that we see nowadays seems like that it's it it doesn't even have some of the underlying uh things to it you know that maybe the old movies and things had you know the underlying themes and stuff that maybe you had to kind of figure out or you know like with Hitchcock or something where you're you're you're expecting something or
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] well I I don't know it just I don't really care much for TV at all I just I mean I sometimes get hooked into it but I really I really get mad at myself when I do because I realize I realize fully there's no really redeeming value for T TV no
[speaker001:] not too much not too much well that's right well I think it is good to to read books and and because even if it's like you say it's light reading you are still getting some mental exercise
[speaker002:] yeah you're developing your imagination which you know when you develop your imagination that can take you into a lot of other areas because you've developed uh your your your mind in in seeing things you know even if it's your own set way
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] you know it's you're you're taking words and developing a picture in your mind
[speaker001:] that's right
[speaker002:] so I mean
[speaker001:] that's good
[speaker002:] and it's it's excellent I I'm we haven't got children yet but I hope to uh set an example for ours that you know that reading is can it can be your best friend basically I mean even if you haven't got a a a human friend around you can pick pick up a book and and
[speaker001:] uh-huh right
[speaker002:] and be with somebody basically
[speaker001:] uh-huh I think so well I guess I'd better close now so I can
[speaker002:] oh it sounds like your kids are doing stuff so are are you a teacher I gathered you might be a teacher
[speaker001:] uh well I I was I'm home now full time but uh so yeah we're we think books are important around here well you have a good day stay out of the rain okay bye-bye
[speaker002:] oh okay uh-huh yeah okay okay you too take care bye bye