B is for Books

My Favourite Things: Books

There is no way I could have done this challenge and avoided talking about books.  Books are one of my passions and my life would be incomplete without them.  Unfortunately, they have kind of invaded my life and my house and everyone room boasts several books, probably more.  My night table holds a precarious pile of books and I am in constant fear that if I so much as shake the table, they will go tumbling down and take everything else with them. 

I have developed this nasty habit of reading more than one book at a time, and usually have at least five on the go at once.  This I blame solely on my mother, whose reading habits I picked up at an early age.  While I did spend an inordinate amount of time outside as a child, I also had a nasty habit of staying up late reading in bed, a habit I have continued to this day. 

Two of my favourite places to go to, even today, are the bookstore and the library.  As a kid, I went to the library at least once per week to check out a pile of books and to spend time there.  I would also go to the bookstore whenever I could to see what had been released and then go find it in the library.  I find I am completely relaxed in these places and my mind goes into a kind of tunnel vision mode where I focus only on the books and relaxation.  Behold anyone who interrupts my musings in a bookstore or library as chances are I will probably walk right past you and not even know you were there!!! Don't take it personally though, as my life is so busy that I crave these moments of solitude.

When I was a kid, I remember signing up for book contests and winning most of them because I could read faster than most kids could.  I remember one librarian doubting the number of books I read one summer so she sat me down and drilled me on the content of every book I had listed.  I must have passed because she never said anything after the drilling session, just handed me my reward, tight-lipped as if she couldn't believe I had read all of them.  I think the biggest shock was when I had to relate the contents of Flowers in the Attic when I was ten years old and she couldn't believe my mom had let me read it.  Of course, I didn't understand a lot of what I had read until I re-read it several years later and did the "Oh, that's what that means" and "Oh my!" thing.  But my mom didn't believe in censoring, bless her, as it would have been hard to hold back a daughter who was a gifted reader, and I probably would have found a way to sneak the book anyways. 

Why do I like reading so much?  I don't really know, to be honest.  Oh, I could spout the usual things about educating the mind (which it does), increasing my vocabulary (absolutely), studies about

dementia and alzheimer's (reading delays the onset of these), gaining knowledge (absolutely - I wouldn't know what I do today without reading both fiction and non-fiction), transporting you to a whole new world (gotta love my sci-fi and fantasy for that), self-reflecting (don't always want to go down that path though), and containing important information.  I just know that I don't leave the house without a book in my purse; I don't travel without my e-reader and at least two hard copies just in case something happens to my e-reader; I get twitchy if I have to sit for a long period without something to do and don't have a book to read; and, adore rainy days because it means I can sit inside and read all day.  I was secretly proud when my son got caught in school reading a book instead of doing math even though I did the big mean mom thing and talked to him about the school rules, but I was thinking he was the proud apple from the tree, you know? 

So basically, I like reading because it's part of my genetic code and it comes as naturally as breathing to me.  It's more than just transporting me to another world or into other peoples' lives, it's about the journey.  I read because I can!!!