Me likey this Monday's theme: books. Me likey lots. So, here goes.
(From the one and only Supah's Blog: You know
Oprah Supah asks the tough questions ...
What are you currently reading?
When do you find the time to read?
Where do you do most of your reading?
How do you choose what you read?
From where do you get most of your books?
What do you do with a book after you've finished reading it?
What are your book (reading) quirks?")
I love to read. LOVE to read. For as long as I can remember, I have loved books. As a child, my preference was for Golden Books. My very favorite one was
"The Ginghams: The Backwards Picnic". I passed my love of Golden Books onto my kidlets, and thus we have a very large collection of the golden-spined books
(some dating back to the 40's).
As I outgrew the GB's
(ok, so who ever really outgrows those books?!), I started in on "bigger" books. My favorite?
"The Clumpets Go Sailing". From there I graduated to chapter books, with Beverly Cleary topping my list of favorites. Oh how I wanted to be Ramona Quimby. I read the Babysitters Club series, and I also liked the Sweet Valley High books. I loved the classics like
Anne of Green Gables,
Heidi,
The Little Princess,
Pippi Longstocking,
The Secret Garden, and
The Wizard of Oz (I consider myself lucky that my copy of the book was my great-grandfather's - from 1906). Some other favorites were
Behind The Attic Wall,
Wait Til Helen Comes, and
The House of Dies Drear.
When I entered my teen years, V.C. Andrews' books were my crack. I read everything she wrote, with
My Sweet Audrina being my fave. When I outgrew her
(which didn't take long because I read so fast), I started reading more chick-lit. The first time I picked up a Louisa May Alcott book, I was in heaven, and
An Old-Fashioned Girl is still one of my very favorite books. I gave myself whole-heartedly to Ms. Alcott, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Margaret Mitchell
(and then of course Alexandra Ripley), and Daphne DuMaurier. I also started reading romance novels. I found that Danielle Steele
(my Gramma K. would give me hers) books were quick and kind of fascinating to my 14 year-old brain. Belva Plain's stories were also entertaining.
I discovered my Dad's bookshelf in the late 90s. John Grisham, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Mary Higgins Clark, Robert James Waller, Michael Crichton, and Patricia Cornwell replaced Danielle Steele and the rest of the romance novelists. And then James Patterson arrived on my radar. Wow. JP became my crack. I would stay up all night to finish the books. Mr. Patterson also brought some of his colleagues along - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Lee Childs, Ted Bell, Dean Koontz, Tami Hoag...the list can go on and on.
The point of the above rambling? I love to read!! Books are my escape. I love being able to lose myself in their pages. In the last 12 months, I would say that I've read easily over 20 books. Probably more. But definitely not less. In the last week, I have flown through two books - Stephen King's
The Eyes of the Dragon and
The Green Mile, and I started his
Different Seasons book last night.
I am lucky that my kiddos still "nap" and go to bed early, so I do most of my reading while they're in bed. Which is why I get as many books in as I do. It also helps that I read fast.
My favorite place to read is on the couch. Cuddled up in my Snuggie with a warm mug of tea. Or a cold beer - it all depends on how the day went. But I'll read anywhere - bed, standing in the kitchen while stirring dinner, in the tub, on the toilet. The only place I can't read is in the car.
I judge books by their covers. Not going to lie about it either. If the cover looks even remotely interesting, I will grab it. Sometimes I'm disappointed, but sometimes not. I don't use the media-driven Best-Seller lists. They are grossly overrated, and I don't want to read what the masses are reading. Sure most of what I read end up being on those lists, but I don't choose them from those lists. I tend to stick with one author for a while...if I like one book he/she has written, I hunt down the rest of his/her works.
The majority of the books I read are usually borrowed. I steal them from my brother's book shelf, my Dad sends a box up from FL, friends give them to me, and every so often I will hit up the library. If I fall in love with the book, then I buy it. I'm a re-reader. The Twilight series? Took me 4 days to read. 2 weeks later, I re-read them.
Jane Eyre? Gets re-read every summer. My Jane Austen Favorites (
Pride and Prejudice and
Sense and Sensibilities) have been read at least 3 times each.
What do I do with books after I've read them? Usually pile them in a stack next to my bed. If I've borrowed them from a friend or family member or the library, I return them. But if they're mine? They get stacked. Or boxed up. Or borrowed. There are books all over this house. If they're my favorite books - the ones I can't live without - they get put on a shelf in my room. Austen, Alcott, Meyer, Frank, King, Bronte...all in my room.
Reading quirks...let's see. I can never find a bookmark, so I use whatever's laying around. Usually a Vera Bradley tag...or a receipt. Sometimes I use strings that I pull off of my shirts. I love the snapping sound that a brand-new book makes when you first crack the spine. I also love the smell of fresh ink. I will never own a Kindle or any other "reading game" for that reason - it's just not the same. When I lose myself completely, I tend to talk to the characters. I yell at them, laugh at them, cry with them...and I'm usually oblivious that I'm doing it.
And now that I've discussed my love of books, I'm going to go read while my kids are still occupied in the playroom. Happy reading!!
The always faboo Supah (and MommyBrain, too) wanna know what my favorite quote is. They want to know what yours is, too, of course. But they asked me first. And my answer? I have many. From books, movies, friends, whatever. Some of my faves?
