The Need to Read

I've been visiting goodreads.com lately, surfing through what other people have read and listing a few more books I have read, and have realized a truly amazing sadness. I don't read enough.

And why don't I read enough? Because I'm too distracted by my house or TV and obviously don't realize how much more I would love to just get away from reality and be completely engulfed by someone else's imagination, with a little kick from my own. I come home and sometimes grab a book while waiting on Chris to finish up work, but usually, I grab the remote. And I should know better than to grab the plastic contraption that leads a wasteland of nothingness. Since this writer's strike, our $10 cable package has been a little less than lacking. To get channels that might actually have some value, like the Discovery Channel, HGTV, TLC, the History Channel, etc., we'd have to dish out another $35 a month. And even though we can probably afford it, it's the principle of the matter and the fear that even more laziness would ensue that causes us to reject this idea.

But I digress.

I believe my love for the written word began at an early age. My mom is an avid reader. Now, she doesn't read the things you and I read so much as those awful, pulsating-member induced romance novels. But the woman goes through about three or four a week, if not more. But nonetheless, she always encouraged us to read and actually taught my siblings and I how to read before we ever stepped foot into a kindergarten class. I distinctly remember one other girl and I reading from the Weekly Reader aloud while sitting "Indian-style" on the rug in class. When I got to first grade, we had one of those read-a-thon things where you see who can read the most books in a certain number of weeks. I won, out of the whole school actually. But then again, how complicated is "see Jane run?" Ha! Well, some of them were a little more complicated, but you get my drift.

But then it happened. My mom's obsession with reading went too far when she made my brother and I read every one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's tales of the prairie. Oh my freakin' gosh! For some reason, I LOATHED these books. I think if I had read them as a teen or was just not forced to read them, things would have been different. But such was not the case. After that series, I didn't pick up another book for probably about a year. Then I got into my mom's almost complete collection of the Nancy Drew series. I only seemed to find the time to read about three of them, but the series has been passed down to me and I plan to complete the reading - even though the level is probably about middle school at best. Of the few I read, I absolutely loved! I love anything having to do with solving a case. This, and the fact that my writing skills are far from any John Grishom, is why if I ever wrote a book, it would probably be a middle school-level mystery.

I, like any of you, had to read plenty books in school, many of which I enjoyed. I even included some of these in my list on goodreads.com, but only ones I thought adults would enjoy as well. I mean "To Kill A Mockingbird" is a great book, but I read it when I was in elementary school or early middle school. So I figured I'd leave that off the list. Who hasn't read that? But my friend Kari, who invited me to the site in the first place, has about 170 books listed - most of which she has read in the past three years. Now that's a reader! And Kari is just as busy as I am. Granted, she didn't spend every spare moment for a year and a half renovating an old house, but if I know Kari, she was plenty busy with other things!

So now that I have a job that allows me to lead a fairly normal life (as opposed to 60-hour weeks, most of them spent reading), I vow to pick up those hard- or soft-back bundles of wonder, excitement, intrigue and intellect and put down the black box of iniquity! I'm looking forward to reading my mystery that includes dogs (mentioned earlier as a Christmas present from my hubby). I also vow to try to read it as just a reader and not an editor - I tell ya, once you've been trained to do that, it's tough shaking it! And I won't wait until vacation to finish the book!

Now if I could just get motivated to work out... or find a way to read and work out at the same time...

Do books on CD count?