I've always been a bookworm. Finding great solace in the world's I enter with each cover opened, spine cracked and page turned. At times the characters within the pages acted as friends when I was feeling lonely. Other times, even today, the world's brought to life by an author's words and my vivid imagination take me away from whatever may be bothering me in the real world.
I began reading at a young age. Before kindergarten. I still remember a story time in kindergarten, anxiously wanting the teacher to pick me to try and help with words because I knew I knew them and could blow the class away. Alas, Mrs Hartleib picked the other Sara, and I could not shine…or boast, whatever.
I was lucky to have parents who read to me, as well as an older sister who was well into reading by the time I came along. My mom's still not sure when i actually learned to read…I guess from an early age I was memorizing favorites like "The Foot Book" and "Red Fish Blue One Fish Two Fish."
You would be hard-pressed to find me without some sort of reading material on hand. I almost always have a book in my bag, and if I'm in between things, a magazine at least. I even tote books to work for that glorious hour (it used to only be 30 minutes) of free time in the middle of the day where I can unwind a bit. I look forward to going to the YMCA for at least 30 uninterrupted minutes of reading time on the eliptical machine. If only they would turn off the crappy radio station, so I could concentrate even more. Can you believe the machine trainer guy at the Y scoffed at me for reading on the machines?! I told him, "I either read on the machine or I'll read on the couch in my apartment with some snacks, which do you think is better?" That got him to shut up pretty quick.
I'm used to people making a point to bring attention to my reading. Growing up, not a single family gathering went by (after let's say the age of 8 or 9 - when I same-age cousin started to grow apart playing-wise) where I did not have my nose in a book. There was a 6 year difference between me and my nearest girl cousin, I needed something to occupy my time while all the older girls did their older girl cousin things. No one ever seemed to have a problem with it until boyfriends were introduced into family gatherings. My cousin's boyfriend-now-husband would be floored at every party because I had a book. He would always say something. And it wasn't like these were once a year get-togethers, we had some sort of party at least once a month. That's weird, isn't it?
Sadly I don't get to read as much anymore as I would like to. Having a job/career/whatever really eats up a lot of time. But I do as much as I can, setting yearly goals for myself. I read at least as many books as I am old. At some point I won't be able to do that anymore, but until then I relish in reading over that amount. I even have a log of every book I have read for enjoyment/recreation since 1999. Minus two titles that disappeared in the horrific saving debacle of 2005. Long story short. I used to keep these list on computer in a formatted file, using the previous year as a template for the next. Until in January of 2005, when I was starting the new year's list and "open apple + s"ed, instead of "shift+ open apple + s"ing. 2004 was my best book year with almost 50 books read, and I lost them all. I managed to recover all but 2 titles through memory, library receipts and accidental rereading. I even desperately pleaded my case with 3 libraries (hometown, college town and university) trying to access records of which books I checked out with no luck. I still hope to run across these titles one day while beginning a story…one day, one day.
I feel lucky to have such a passion for reading.
But I often worry that when I have kids of my own one day, they won't like reading. I used to talk about this a fear frequently with my GD (graphic design) Buddy, Stacey. She too is an avid reader (who has turned me onto a few favorite reads - thanks again Stacey for getting me hooked on Jasper Fforde!) and it was nice to know I wasn't the only one to have thoughts like that.
But until that problem arises…I'll just keep reading.
Until next time, you can find me in a book (or two).
I began reading at a young age. Before kindergarten. I still remember a story time in kindergarten, anxiously wanting the teacher to pick me to try and help with words because I knew I knew them and could blow the class away. Alas, Mrs Hartleib picked the other Sara, and I could not shine…or boast, whatever.
I was lucky to have parents who read to me, as well as an older sister who was well into reading by the time I came along. My mom's still not sure when i actually learned to read…I guess from an early age I was memorizing favorites like "The Foot Book" and "Red Fish Blue One Fish Two Fish."
You would be hard-pressed to find me without some sort of reading material on hand. I almost always have a book in my bag, and if I'm in between things, a magazine at least. I even tote books to work for that glorious hour (it used to only be 30 minutes) of free time in the middle of the day where I can unwind a bit. I look forward to going to the YMCA for at least 30 uninterrupted minutes of reading time on the eliptical machine. If only they would turn off the crappy radio station, so I could concentrate even more. Can you believe the machine trainer guy at the Y scoffed at me for reading on the machines?! I told him, "I either read on the machine or I'll read on the couch in my apartment with some snacks, which do you think is better?" That got him to shut up pretty quick.
I'm used to people making a point to bring attention to my reading. Growing up, not a single family gathering went by (after let's say the age of 8 or 9 - when I same-age cousin started to grow apart playing-wise) where I did not have my nose in a book. There was a 6 year difference between me and my nearest girl cousin, I needed something to occupy my time while all the older girls did their older girl cousin things. No one ever seemed to have a problem with it until boyfriends were introduced into family gatherings. My cousin's boyfriend-now-husband would be floored at every party because I had a book. He would always say something. And it wasn't like these were once a year get-togethers, we had some sort of party at least once a month. That's weird, isn't it?
Sadly I don't get to read as much anymore as I would like to. Having a job/career/whatever really eats up a lot of time. But I do as much as I can, setting yearly goals for myself. I read at least as many books as I am old. At some point I won't be able to do that anymore, but until then I relish in reading over that amount. I even have a log of every book I have read for enjoyment/recreation since 1999. Minus two titles that disappeared in the horrific saving debacle of 2005. Long story short. I used to keep these list on computer in a formatted file, using the previous year as a template for the next. Until in January of 2005, when I was starting the new year's list and "open apple + s"ed, instead of "shift+ open apple + s"ing. 2004 was my best book year with almost 50 books read, and I lost them all. I managed to recover all but 2 titles through memory, library receipts and accidental rereading. I even desperately pleaded my case with 3 libraries (hometown, college town and university) trying to access records of which books I checked out with no luck. I still hope to run across these titles one day while beginning a story…one day, one day.
I feel lucky to have such a passion for reading.
But I often worry that when I have kids of my own one day, they won't like reading. I used to talk about this a fear frequently with my GD (graphic design) Buddy, Stacey. She too is an avid reader (who has turned me onto a few favorite reads - thanks again Stacey for getting me hooked on Jasper Fforde!) and it was nice to know I wasn't the only one to have thoughts like that.
But until that problem arises…I'll just keep reading.
Until next time, you can find me in a book (or two).
3 comments:
I see you've got two great books laying there. I've found one of the best ways for me to squeeze in reading in a busy life is to listen to audio books. I've got one going in the car and a different one in my studio.
You're welcome!! :) I'm glad you love Fforde as much as I do, not everyone listened to my fervent ramblings about the awesomeness of them. Did you know the newest one is out, "First Amongst Sequels"? Now you do!!
As I dug through boxes of books to bring to school, I thought that horrible thought... "What if I never have kids who like to read? Who will take these books when I die!!" and then I realized I am a spaz. :)
(PS. I messed up my last post... it's been too long since I used blogger from a phone! I'm going to try again with mine though...)
Post a Comment