I read anything and
everything. I read voraciously. It’s both a good thing and a bad thing. A good
thing because it is my absolute favorite thing to do. I don’t just read a good
book, I inhabit it. I reread favorite books over and over again because it’s
like visiting old family friends. A part of me is even surprised because
nothing ever changes in books. It’s almost as if I think that, if I sneak up on
a beloved story, if I catch it unaware, something will have changed. A bad
thing because sometimes reading gets in the way of real life. When invited to
hang out with friends or family, I may think “But I’m reading.” If Jon wants to
go do something, even something fun, I may think “Maybe when I finish this
chapter.” I almost always have the corner of a book shoved under the microwave
to hold it open, so I can read while I cook. This has lead to some catastrophic
cooking failures and some injuries. Both to cooking utensils and to me.
Books are my favorite but
I subscribe to the local paper and several magazines. For years and years, I’ve
read the paper with breakfast and I cannot fly without magazines. I read my
favorite blogs almost daily. I am a recent convert to e-books. Oh, sure, I held
out for quite a while. I love the feel and, yes, even the smell of books.
Reading a physical book is a sensory experience. I absent-mindedly flip the
pages of my book while I’m reading (which drives Jon crazy), because I love the
way they feel. Jon offered to get me an e-reader but I wasn’t really
interested. He actually bought himself a Kindle but neither of us was that into
it, so he sent it back. Then he won a Kindle at ASHA, which was so cool that
both of us felt that we kind of had to be into it. And that was the turning
point for me. Because to be able to read Stephen King’s 11/22/63 (an excellent but enormous book) on a tiny little Kindle,
rather than having to tote around an enormous hardback was revolutionary. When
I found out that the Banning Library was going to be part of the Southern
California Digital Library and I would be able to check out e-books, that was
the icing on the e-cake. I was officially a convert. Later, we got the iPad
which was also a revelation because now I could read magazines to which I
already subscribe on the iPad. My Kindle books are also on the iPad (but I
still love the Kindle because it’s smaller and lighter and I’m less afraid of
losing it).
Probably my greatest fear
is that someday I will lose my sight and, with it, my ability to read.
Here are a few of the things I'm reading lately: the June issues of all the magazines to which I subscribe, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (which has me baking yeast bread!!!), Spindle's End (a novelization of "Sleeping Beauty"), blogs on the iPad, and An Ice-Cold Grave on the Kindle (a So Cal Digital Library loan)
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