📙 Part 2: Describe a person who likes to read a lot

This episode's vocabulary

To proofread (verb) - to find and correct mistakes in copies of printed text before the final copies are printed.

Literary (adj.) - concerning the writing, study, or content of literature, especially of the kind valued for quality of form.

Broad (adj.) - having a distance larger than usual from side to side; wide.

Autobiography (noun) - an account of a person's life written by that person.

Extensive (adj.) - of great extent; wide, broad.

Delight (noun) - great pleasure.

Schadenfreude (noun) - the emotional experience of pleasure in response to another's misfortune.

Written word (noun) - language expressed in writing.

To take up something (phrasal verb) - become interested or engaged in a pursuit.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, I suppose when it comes down to it, other than myself, my parents probably read a lot, especially my mum, who used to be an editor of several magazines, so she had to proofread and provide lots of reports based on what she read, as part of her job. Beyond that, I think her literary tastes are quite broad, actually. The last book she read was an autobiography of Miriam Margulies, who is a famous actress in our country. And that was an extremely informal read. And I know because I picked it up after her. And then when you contrast that with the authoritative history of the Kennedy family, I remember her talking to me about when I was a child. That gives you a good idea of the, well, at least the extensive and casual reading focus she has. For work, she must have had to read hundreds, if not 1000s of reports about various publications on what they were focusing on, in addition to the articles that were being written themselves. And she also reads our local and national papers, and sort of delights in finding errors in the copy there. It's like a hobby for her, I suppose. And there's little schadenfreude in finding these mistakes by people in the same industry. I suppose it's her way of reminding herself that she still has the Magic Touch, even though she's retired. Not that this stops her, since she still does proofreading for some clients. Indeed, she's proofread some of my stuff as well, which is very nice and helpful of her. If she didn't like reading, it's hard to imagine what her life would have been like since she's dedicated so much of her time to the written word, both as a career and a pastime. And of course, like most parents, she even read bedtime stories to us as children, and got us into it as well, which has also shaped our lives, too. So it's good that my mom decided to take up reading as a hobby and keep it as her career, or part of it anyway.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your story!