Not to sound like a book marketing pitch, but reading is such a wonderful pastime. Since I have been reading some great books lately, I was just thinking about the topic of reading. In books, you can visit new places and meet characters you will probably never meet in real life. Being an avid reader, there was actually a time where I hardly spent any time reading. I think reading all day at work and then coming home to a book to read was actually too much reading. The realization I have come to since having a non-reading related job is that I am back to my old self again.
Voracious is probably the word to describe the way I would read when I was a student, not working full time. It was almost like a sickness for me. No matter where I went, I always had a book on me. The nice part was that I was not driving because my Mom was still chauffeuring me around until I had a license so I even read in the car. Literally, my nose was always in a book.
Not just any type of book mind you, but books in the fantasy genre. Occasionally, I would break out and read a classic novel or something, but most of the time it was always fantasy. Tolkien influenced me greatly and The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have been books that I have read over and over again ever since my Dad told me about them in grammar school.
There were always frustrations when I had too much homework or plenty of studying to do for classes that I did not read as much as I wanted to, but I certainly made up for it when I had time or during the summer. The funny thing about the whole thing is when I was a book editor, reading at home almost turned into a chore. I did not polish off as many books as usual and after a time I actually was hardly reading at all. It was a really weird feeling for me since I was a completely obsessive reader. I would rather watch movies and play video games than pick up a book and read. At this time, it seemed my sister, who was not an avid reader at all, seemed to have gotten my reading bug. She started reading more books than I probably ever saw her read in a span of ten years. It made me laugh, but at the same time it made me wonder where my love for the printed word went.
Not being an editor anymore, I have noticed that my love for books has come back full-fold and even with a house I need to at least read one chapter before I close my eyes for the night. My sister and I were actually racing to see who would finish The Dark Tower series first. Since I had started it long before she took a real interest in reading, I was determined to finish it first, which I did. That was quite fun. The series was really great too. Now it seems we are both trying to finish Harry Potter before the other, but the race does not seem so great this time.
The other interesting thing I have recently noticed with reading, especially just coming off a seven book series (read start to finish), is that when I had a chance to select a new book I was so accustomed to a certain writing style that anything new was not as good or did not interest me as much. The other issue was probably that my husband was trying to read Harry Potter so his students would not tell him what happens when he goes back to school. So trying to patiently wait to start that book, the book I chose to read in the interim seemed like it was sub-par because I wanted to be reading Harry Potter instead. I'll go back to the other series as soon as I'm done with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Funny how the mind works. So all is well now since I am almost done with the wonderful boy wizard and his friends.
Now all my husband and I have to worry about is getting our library unpacked so we can easily find and pick out our books to read. That will be awhile since we need to paint the room first, but we really need the hot weather to cool off to do so properly. Eventually, we will get that done so we can be surrounded by our wonderful books.
So my crazy reading habits have finally returned and even with trying to unpack our new house, I’m managing to devour books again. Yeah, all is well in my world and the magical places I like to visit. Happy reading!
