I caught the reading bug early. One of the many wonderful qualities my Mom has/had was letting us have fun, taking us fun places & always having fun things planned. Hmmm...I wonder why I like to have so much fun all the time. Between painting homemade Christmas ornaments to cooking heart shaped pancakes, we did it all with her. Including going to the library every week in the summer for story time. My favorite. I still remember our librarian, Golum. He was a short, sweet man from India who loved books, reading & passing that on to children. I could sit for hours at the library and listen to him read. I think he is a big part of why I became a teacher as well; I love reading SO much & want to pass that on to my littlest readers. My earliest loves were The Boxcar Children, Sweetvalley High, Goosebumps, and every 10 year old girls' favorite...The Babysitter's Club. Oh, I wanted to be tall & blonde & a fabulous babysitter just like Stacey. But I also wanted to be the President like Kristy...even though she was a tomboy who never had a boyfriend. SOOO not me.
Just like I don't discriminate with my love of different kinds of music (see "I'm the last person on earth" post), the same goes for books. Fiction, non-fiction, biography, self-help, I love it all. And I get attached to books and characters very easily. When I finished The Notebook, I literally felt physical pain that I wouldn't be reading more about Noah & Allie's lives. Same goes for the Twilight, Hunger Games, & Dragon Tattoo series. I guess that is the sign of a good author...your readers laying in bed at night wishing there were just 10 more pages to read. It's also a very good sign if your readers refuse to let anyone borrow their books & consider them sacred & unable to be touched by anyone but them. Ok, I know that is over the top. But thank you for giving me Bella & Edward, Stephenie Meyer.
I love the smell & the feel of books. I love the satisfaction you get when you finish one & you can tuck it away somewhere in case you ever want to read it again.
When the Nooks, Kindles & ipads came out, I slowly started seeing my book-loving friends & family transition over. I thought they were down-right despicable. How COULD they do that, just cheat on books like they never even mattered?! What about all of the good years books had given them? What about the laughter, tears, & late nights reading with a flashlight in bed?! What did books ever do to them?! When my friends would say, "You know Abigail, you should try out (insert technology here) sometime." I would smile & say, "Yeah, maybe"...while secretly judging them with daggers in my book loving heart. Devin finally stopped asking if I wanted a Kindle for Christmas because he was tired of my dirty looks & mumblings of "never gonna happen."
That all changed last week.
DC was doing what he does best at 7:30, sleeping. This is usually the time that I either 1)online shop 2) stalk people on the internet or 3)read. But strangely enough, our new ipad was staring me down & I didn't have a new book at the moment to stop me. Uh oh.
After much internal deliberation, I impulsively grabbed it & searched for a book that one of my friends had recently suggested, Gone Girl. She said it was twisted, creepy, & a page-turner. All great criteria for a new Fall read. I found it and thought, "No harm in just reading the sample." Uh oh, again.
Like a lot of new things I try out, I LOVE it. I feel free! Reading on the elliptical? Piece of cake. No more awkward holding of the book/trying to turn the page/while running, shennanigans going on. It's so thin & sleek, I can carry it anywhere! And, I can easily drink my coffee while holding it on my lap AND read at the same time. Cha-Ching.
Will I stop reading real books now? Heck no. They are a part of my soul, like my Sunday naps & yearly trips to the beach. Do I feel bad for cheating on my beloved? Yes. But, I like to make new friends & I hope one day my books will understand. They will always be my first love anyway.
So, I would like to publicly apologize to my friends & family for silently judging you & your new found reading tools as well. When you are sorry about something, you say it.
I'll leave you by singing a quote from the ever-popular 1980s (or 70s?) show, Reading Rainbow.
"Take a look, it's in a book..."
Or an ipad.
Peace, love, & happy reading.
So proud of you for giving it a shot! The convenience is just too wonderful! I love finishing a book and buying the next one in the series minutes later. You have to read Kisses from Katie...life changing!
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