What is my favorite activity in the whole world? Reading.
Here are some random facts about my self-diagnosed addiction to books.
I have probably read over a thousand books in my
lifetime. I like all genres and will
give anything a try. I read more fiction
than non-fiction, but I do like the occasional biography, history, or real-life
crime story. I love epic fantasy, the
more novels in the series, the better. I
am not ashamed that I like chick lit and romance novels, especially those that
have strong female protagonists. I still
enjoy reading novels meant for children and young adults. I have an incredibly hard time not finishing
a book once I have started it even if I do not like it. The only exceptions are textbooks (especially
math and science ones). I also find it
difficult to read more than one novel at a time, because I was once scolded by
a babysitter for not finishing the book she lent me before starting another one. I have read books in as little as one day (even
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire),
and I have procrastinated reading over weeks (the little novella Billy Budd, Sailor nearly got the better
of me).
I actually have a spreadsheet dedicated to books that I want
to read. I call it my Geek Page. There are currently 242 entries on it, but
some of those actually represent series with multiple books in them. I gather the books from many sources. I get recommendations from friends and
family. I read a book that I like, and
so I look up more by the same author. I
hear about books through online forums and TV.
I pull some of them from reviews in Entertainment Weekly. I probably get the most ideas from the
articles on the Buzzfeed Books emails that I receive. Some of the books that are on this list have
been there since I created the spreadsheet (maybe eight or nine years
ago?). Some of them have only been on
here a day or two. I always delete books
that I have completed, but I almost never delete a book I have not read
yet. While I dream about reading all of
them some day, I am quite aware that I probably will never get through the
list, especially since I add much faster than I delete. Even though I have this magnificent list, I
still randomly pull books off the shelves to read without having preselected
them.
Despite my love for books, I do not actually own that many
compared to some people I know. I
probably have a hundred or so, spread across several bookshelves and
boxes. I used to own a lot more, but
after moving several times the joy of owning does not quite live up to the pain
of packing and lugging boxes of books everywhere. I have purged my collection over time,
although it is very hard for me to get rid of a book. I always give my books away; I never toss
them in the garbage. I actually find it
much easier to never buy a book in the first place than to dispose of it after
I already own it. Because of this, I try
to force myself to borrow the majority of the books I read, mostly from the
library, sometimes from people I know.
This has the added benefit of being kinder to my budget as well. I much prefer to read an actual book where I
can turn the pages, but I still do own and use an e-reader. My Nook has probably twenty or so books on
it. I have bought them mostly to take on
vacation as I try not to travel with library books lest they get lost, or
non-fiction books that I think I might want to reference more than once in my life. Someday when I have unlimited money and
space, I hope to own a library that would rival the one in Disney’s Beauty and
the Beast movie.
I attended the National Book Festival this past
weekend in Washington DC. I met a
college friend there, and we went to two of the sessions. The first was a panel discussion between Jane
Hirshfield, Azar Nafisi, and Jeffrey Brown entitled Why Literature
Matters. The panelists joked with the
audience that the topic probably did not need to be debated much for an
audience who was at the National Book Festival.
The second program was a presentation given by Bryan Stevenson about
some of the ideas discussed in his book Just
Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.
The book is based on his opinions about the flaws in our nation’s
justice system, drawn from his experience as a lawyer working with some of the
most hopeless cases in the court system.
He was a phenomenal speaker who clearly articulated his ideas and
provided plenty of anecdotal evidence.
His book is now on my Geek Page, waiting to be read.
I would dearly love to be paid to read all day, every
day. Yet I did not go into a career that
had anything to do with reading books.
The main reason for this was that English classes drained me. Although I did really well in them, analyzing
and critiquing books was very hard work for me.
I felt that the process of doing English homework sucked all the fun out
of too many books that could have been enjoyed for their own sake. I feared this would probably hold true in the
professional world as well. So for now,
I read books to enjoy them, not to edit them, analyze them, critique them, or
pretend that I have all the answers to why the authors wrote them in the first
place. However, if someone wants to pay
me to put their library to good use, I am more than happy to accept the
position. If I ever have the time to do
much volunteer work, literacy initiatives are at the top of the list.
Now it is time to go read a book. I am currently enjoying The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom. It is a rather complicated non-fiction read
that has made me really wish I was more familiar with some of the past’s more
famous thinkers (Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Freud, Marx, etc.). Next in the pile is a more light-hearted pick
by one of my favorite authors, Home from
the Sea by Mercedes Lackey. Both are
due back to the library in a week and a half, so I need to get reading.
What is on your reading list? Any recommendations for what I should read
next?
See you next week!
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