I am a prolific reader. I know I've previously blogged about my love of getting lost in a movie. That is nothing compared to my ability to get lost in a book.
I love to read. I'm a picky reader, and cannot just read any book. I'd love to have that capacity, as it would mean so many more books would be open to me (pardon the pun!) I'm the person you find in QBD or Borders reading a page or two of a book that has taken my interest. If I don't like the style, language or set out of a book, I just can't get into it.
I have a rule when it comes to books that have been made into movies. I always try to read the book before I see the movie. There are some movies I have never seen, because I have simply not been able to wade through the books. I would love to see the Lord of the Rings movies. But I just cannot get through the first 3 chapters of the first book. Which is ironic, because I absolutely adored "The Hobbit" by J R R Tolkien and have read it a number of times. Still, I can't get through the rest of his books.
There is another problem with this rule of mine. I often find myself comparing the movie to the book and find it sadly lacking. One of my great favorites is Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind". Now don't get me wrong. I love the movie, it is one of my top ten all time movies. But sadly, it doesn't hold a candle to the book.
I have so many books that I could include as my favorites. I can read a book over and over again. Stephen King was an early favorite of mine, and I revisit his books regularly. I like his earlier stuff much more than his more recent stuff. I then discovered Raymond E Feist, and escaped into the worlds of Kelwan. More recently I've discovered James Patterson and Michael Connolly.
I love to read about English history, in particular the monarchy. Sharon Penman has kept me enthralled for many an hour during my late teens.
As a teen living in a suburb away from a lot of my friends, I indulged my love of reading for hours on end. I was fortunate that I had a dad who loved to read as much as me, and while I didn't take piano or dance lessons, the money that would have been spent on those hobbies was channelled into the local bookstore instead.
We had a big old silky oak tree in our back yard and a pine tree in our front yard. Any given weekend would find me resting in the boughs of either of these trees (it all depended on where the sun was!) reading my latest novel. My idea of heaven. If only we had a big tree like that now in our yard, I'd have no hesitation in encouraging my kids into its arms for an afternoon of losing themselves in the fantasy world of a good book.
As for me, I now try to find time to just curl up in a comfy chair in the sun on our back deck to indulge my passion for reading. Sounds easy, but in these busy times, it's an extravagance I don't often have. I do however try to take my book on my daily bus trip - even 20 minutes is a great refresher for the brain and a welcome change from a bombardment of electronic media that usually substitutes for entertainment on my commute.
And right now...I'm off to read Heroes of Olympus - the Lost Hero, the latest offering by Rick Riordan (a brilliant children's author) so I have a topic of discussion with my 10 year old when he has finished it too. Joy.
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