I love to read. I know there are people in the world that never read. I never, ever saw anyone I associated with in Indonesia read anything other than a newspaper. It just isn't in their budget I suppose, when they are trying to get their rice and weeds for the day.
I remember the book that captured my attention and kept me that way for the rest of my life. I thought it was a grown up book when I was in the 6th grade. Mrs. Mike, by Benedict Freedman and Nancy Freedman. I don't actually remember much about it other than she lived in the Great White North and had a bunch of trying events she had to overcome. The second book I read that was in fact an adult book was, Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. A gothic suspense novel with murder, ghosts and fog. I loved it. That book is likely the reason I like trashy detective novels.
I read memoirs. I immerse my self in them, voyeuristically soaking in the details of someone's life. Real life. Real drama. Real pain. Books that make me want to shout to the world that we need to help the child soldiers, victims of genital mutilation, parents that that abused, neglected, and left broken children who became broken adults. I read them until I have to stop because it hurts me too much to read anymore.
I read trashy suspense and detective novels. I read trashy spy novels. I do not read trashy romance novels (it's okay if you read them!). Those just make me realize that I do not have Fabio for a husband and will never be swept off to a pirate ship on a white horse. I used to read High Fantasy. Avidly. I will go back to it someday, but after a few years of them, I realized that all of them were good vs. evil, but they became too predictable and they had too many pages dedicated to battles between the orcs and trolls, you can fill in the blank with your own good vs. evil fantasy characters. I occasionally read a book that has the latest breakthrough advice to help me be a better person. The advice is usually not true, or does not apply to my situation. I rarely read something the Doctor du jour wrote about a health issue I have. And less frequently a book about how to speak and listen to him better. I will not read a book when I have seen the movie, for at least 5 years. And the reverse is true, I don't go to the movie if I have read the book
I pick my books by the size of them, how fat they are on the shelf. I know most people read the back jacket, look at the cover and make a decision. It only makes sense to me that if I am going to fork over $8 to $15 for a book, it might as well be a 900 page book as opposed to a 234 page book. The reality of it is, I have not purchase a paper book for myself in quite a few years. I am all about ebooks. First on my Kindle, then my iTouch and finally my iPad. I get 99% of my books free and the books I pay for are usually favorite books that are paper books in my library. I want these in my ebook library because I read them over and over. Mostly I buy a few that are for Dimples, though a good percent of hers are free books I am always on the look out for. We read a lot on the Kindle app. I just bought her a paper book, a collection of Disney Princess stories. She is all about Princess' you know.
I read my scriptures. I try to read them every day. I firmly believing that I speak to God through prayer and he speaks to me through the scriptures. If I read enough, I can learn how to better speak and listen to my husband. How to love my daughter better. How to follow those in the church that are doing their best as human beings to teach me how to be a better and more obedient daughter of my Heavenly Father. That is what I am striving for. I would probably be better off not read trashy detective novels, but that is my mindless entertainment when I finally get a little quiet in my life and I am not knitting. Though with the auto scroll feature on my iPad, I can read at the same time I am doing some mindless knitting, like a hat. How awesome is that. The two things I love most.
I love to read. I love that I can gain knowledge from reading. I love that I can be entertained by reading. I love reading with Dimples before bed and watching her learning to and loving to read. It is a great thing we have been blessed with in our time. All the books you could possibly want, all the adventures you could want to take at your fingertips.
No comments:
Post a Comment