I love to read. I always have. I hope to always love to read. I will read anything - from a sales ad to a magazine to a 1,000 page novel. I will read the same things over and over again to the point of [near] memorization.
When I was a kid, I would stay with my grandmother during the summer days. At least twice a week, we'd travel to the local library to stock up on books to read that would hopefully last us until our next trip to the library. Let me remind you that I am from a very small town, so the books I had to choose from weren't of the most challenging variety. Let's just say that I was reading adult literature by the age of 6. I think this was due to the fact that I had read so much up to that age, and not due to the lack of literature available. We definitely ordered books to be shipped in from other larger libraries and they didn't do it for me either.
The librarian at school would always yell at me for choosing to read books that were too "mature" for my age group. Really!?!? You're going to discourage a child from reading and excelling? Think again, sister. That may work on the other kiddos, but not this one! I will read what I want to read whenever I want to read it. And don't you try to tell me otherwise! I even went to a private school, where you're supposed to be encouraged (read: pushed) to excel and raise above the majority. I absolutely did, don't get me wrong, but I think that librarian just had it out for me.
We would go on road trips a lot when I was a kid too. My other set of grandparents live in upstate NY, which is a 12 hour drive from my parent's house in MD, so that allowed for plenty of reading time. My mom would wrap presents for me and give one to me at certain points along the drive. Most of the time they were books; sometimes they were little trinkets or coloring books (I love coloring!). When they were books, she'd buy me a trilogy or series and give me the first one as we were leaving the house. Once she saw I was nearing the end of the book, she'd give me the next in the series. It was like Christmas in the van! Meanwhile, my baby brother proceeded to cry and spit up the whole car ride (don't even get me started on that kid).
This brings me to my recent obsession: www.goodreads.com. This fabulous website was introduced to me by none other than Gina, my wombmate. She also loves to read. This is a great way to keep track of all of the books that you are currently reading, would like to read, and have previously read. You can rate these books and suggest books to your friends. You can also follow your favorite authors and their blogs. This website posts everything on the main page and provides a feed similar to Facebook. You can set your status to show what page you are on in a certain book. It even allows you to show that you're reading multiple books at a time, which I often do.
As you are all aware, I have just completed "Open" by Andrea Agassi. I have now moved on to "My Life in France" by Julia Child (again, not helping my Parisian obsession). My current beach read is "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb (which hasn't gotten much attention lately because I've been out of town on the weekends). My work read (it's the slow season for me) is "The Funny Thing Is..." by Ellen Degeneres. I anticipate the work read to be completed by Thursday; Julia must be complete by July 14 because that is when she is due back to the library. Next on the docket: LA Candy!
Allow me speak further about my love of the library. When I was in college, I was forever in the library. But I wasn't reading books for fun. I was reading scientific journals, doing research for 50+ page papers, or studying until my brains seeped out of my ears. After college, I was so busy working, commuting, and playing volleyball, that I didn't have much time to read. Now that my adult life has slowed down a bit and I've gotten into a normal routine again, I can resume reading. Which means I can resume my weekly trips to the library! Because I work for the university, I can check out books for an entire semester!! How great is that?!?! Four months to read a dozen books? Psh, that's the easiest challenge there is. I also have a library card for the county library. I don't visit that library nearly as often as I do the campus library, mainly due to the convenience factor of the campus library. Yes, I do pass multiple county libraries on my way home from work, but they're on the other side of the road and I just don't want to deal with the traffic.
I'm a fan of reserving books online. If I can't find a book at the university library that I want to place on hold, I'd search the county library database and they usually have it. I'll place it on hold, pick it up off of the "reserved" shelf, and be on my merry way. "They" really do make it quite convenient these days.
I've always been amazed when people tell me that they don't like to read. How can you NOT enjoy reading?!?! Reading keeps your mind sharp and educates you on subjects that you wouldn't normally learn about. How does one not enjoy expanding his or her mind? I mean really... it's just baffling. So much so that I cannot express in words how baffled I am by this "feeling" that others have.
Do you know how may words the average person reads a day? No really, do you? Because I don't and I would like to know. I bet I read at least triple that number, maybe even more. Someone find the answer to that question and let me know. In the meantime, I'll be reading.
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