I spend a lot of time reading; magazines, online news sites, spanking blogs, hundreds of pages pulled up from general searches on anything from the history of Angkor Wat to how to make gluten free sourdough bread starter.
Books though, have always been my respite. If hard-pressed for new reading materials, I’ll re-read a favorite book (or series of them) dozens of times throughout the years, loving every minute of the knowledge of exactly what happens next. If there is anything about which I am obsessive, books qualify. It’s a high-quality problem.
Many years spent shifting from one foot to the other and back again, staring myself teary-eyed at the shelves in thrift stores, used bookshops, and discount bookstores, have taught me that it’s worth the dough to buy books I want to read (well-written) rather than books which fit within my tightwad criteria (cheap).
So for the last several years, I’ve given myself over to the abandon of stores and sites like Barnes and Noble and Amazon – with literally hundreds of thousands of titles available, delivered to my door thankyouverymuch – to sate my constant book cravings.
It’s always been this way.
At the end of first grade, my teacher presented me with the award for most books read during the school year – thirty-one: a photocopied ‘Certificate of Achievement’ and hardback copy of The Story of Helen Keller. I still have them both. Sentimental value and all.
I can remember sneaking my dad’s copy of ‘It’ by Stephen King (yes, Stephen King. There was also a Dean Koontz phase, as well as an Anne Rice one.) when I was around fourteen or fifteen years old and having to stay up all night long because the book scared me so much that I was afraid to go to bed. I’ve always had an active imagination, and have always been able to completely immerse myself in an enjoyable story. That one was just scary; I’ll never forget that damn clown and his shiny teeth.
I can also remember sneaking the romance novels off my grandmother’s bookshelf and squirreling them away for later perusal. I’d seen the shirtless Native American man on the cover holding tight to the pale-skinned-yet-busty maiden and was pretty sure that there was something going on there. Sadly, I found them completely disinteresting. Around that time, I also tried to read the copy of ‘Dianetics’ gathering dust on the hall bookshelves. Happily, I found this completely disinteresting as well.
In the last twenty years, I’ve read hundreds, likely thousands, of books. Beautiful, whimsical things by Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, and Neil Gaiman, and breathless memoirs by Mary Karr, Augusten Burroughs (and nearly every other soul-searching life’s self-examination written); numerous accounts of the second World War and countless stories of the survivors of life in general; American, British, and Russian literature; historical biographies of the people who’ve fought for freedoms throughout our evolution, and many many many silly, shallow, and satisfying works of modern fiction.
Several months ago a dear friend gifted me with something I would have never purchased for myself – a Kindle e-reader. It’s the basic, I-only-want-to-read-a-book model, and I honestly didn’t want to like it. Books – real paper books – have always been so appealing. Pretty bindings, freshly-printed pages, hundreds of turns pulling you forward into the story..
Then this ereader thing comes along. I’ve now read every single available free literature classic, uncountable other free books, magazines, and publications…and purchased several ebooks. As much as I love a good book, this thing is super-convenient.
Until I drop it in the bathtub, that is.
Historically, every really good book I own will end up in the bathtub at least once. It’s a rite of passage and proof of a book’s long standing when the pages are so crinkled with multiple droppings and air-dryings that it takes up twice as much space on the shelf.
Currently, I’m devouring every single novel by Christopher Moore (‘Lamb’, ‘Sacre Blue’), who writes insanely funny novels (recommended by a dear friend and playmate), and planning a second stab at The Brothers Karamazov soon (the first one ended with my considering making a list of all the character’s names, nicknames, and pronunciations on a separate pad in order to figure out what the hell was going on). Curiosity will prevail, even over Slavic surnames.
Want to relax, expand your consciousness, intelligence, and world view? Read a book. Read a hundred of ’em. Then tell me which ones are your favorites.
There are so many intelligent, opinionated, and creative folks reading, posting, and contributing here… What do you read?
– Dana
A Love of Reading, totally unrelated to spanking
Visit my premium video, DVD, and products website at DanaKaneSpanks.com.
Good for you! I am a reader, as well. I read books about my Clan (Scottish Clan), fiction books about medieval times, fly fishing books (some from the 1800’s), Anthropology books, political books, and the occasional just for the hell of it book. I share your love.
Stop it, stop it, stop it! One person simply cannot have your disciplinary skills *and* such good literary qualities. You, ma’am are an alien, maybe from ten dimensions (and I’m assuming even that in that amazing place, they’d simply replace the drenched ereader with another one, and reload the collection there :)
Anthony
I’m a lover of rock star autobiographies for sure. Heart, Pat Benatar, Grace Slick and Motley Crue were all must reads for me.
Funny you should mention Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I loved all of Stephen’s first dozen novels. I reread “Carrie” dozens of times. :)
Recently I borrowed several Dean Koontz books from the late 1980s. I can’t believe how hard it’s been for me to get through them. Talk about CREEPY…one book featured a narrative from a talking home security system. IT either captured or held prisoner a woman it “loved.” I stopped reading after 30 or so pages. LOL
Another one had a clock radio start blasting warning signals to a family in danger. I DID finish the book but was freaked out.
My favorite two fiction books are from opposite ends of the political spectrum. “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck and “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.
I like to download books from the library. As long as you have a library card it is easy. Just finished reading “The Life Of Pi”. Turned my stomach. Other than that have not read much in a while, I will have to look up some of the authors you have mentioned. Isabella
books about God and theology, including NDEs, the stories of people who have been dead or nearly dead and who are back to life . . . books/essays about health and “alternative” health care approaches . . . short essays of mild or relatively harmless sexual experiences, often which came to the person in a surprising way or that had meaning to them . . .books/essays about historical events in which the events made a difference for later history, or, in which the religion or culture of the people made a difference in how events turned out . . . recently, books/essays about persons called mystics, partly to know what role, if any, physical discipline played in their spiritual growth.
I’m so glad to see that one of my favorite bloggers is an avid reader as well! Have you read Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Legacy series? It is hands down one of my favorites.
I, too, have decided the only way I’ll ever get through the Brothers Karamazov is by taking notes on their names. Which I’d like to do since it has some really great passages in it. :)
I grew up much like you. Resulted in career of publication & speechwriting before I retired. Now, I devote my non-reading life to writing 2 blogs (Blogger & Tumblr) on Femdom.
NB: Sir Max Hastings’ oeuvre @ WW2 is great. He’s now engaged with work on 1914. Best — Rich
Currently I am battling my way through Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. I’ve made a few attempts to do so in the past, but there is something about her writing style that just grates on my nerves. I’m trying it as an audiobook this time, in the hopes that having it read to me will help the process along, and I’m certainly further into it than I ever have been before. I’m still not liking it. (I actually got one of my roommates to read “Northanger Abbey” and tell me what it was about when it was required reading for a class in college.)
Prior to this it was Elizabeth Moon’s “Deed of Paksenarrion” trilogy, Tess Gerritsen’s “Last to Die” and an interesting book called “The Swerve” by Stephen Greenblatt which is about how Lucretius’s book “On the Nature of Things” was saved from oblivion and what influence it had on the start of the modern age. Earlier this year I also listened to “A History of the World in 6 Glasses”, which was a really neat way of looking at history and the development of civilization based on the influence of things humans have made to drink through the years.
In between all this is the standard rereads of any Lackey books that catch my eye, the odd romance, any other stray book that appeals, and this morning I started rereading Linda Crist’s “The Bluest Eyes in Texas” because lesbian romance is perfect breakfast reading on a Friday.
I’m glad to hear that you’re reading Moore’s work. I love almost everything of his that I’ve read, excepting “Fool” but that’s just my issues with King Lear and not anything to do with his writing.
Oh, and if you like fantasy and haven’t read it yet, I read “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss recently and it’s amazing. I haven’t read the second in the trilogy yet, but the first by itself was definitely worth reading. Be warned though that the third book isn’t out yet so if you prefer having all the books in a trilogy/series published, you might want to hold off. But I’m liking what I’ve read so far.
I’m still debating an e-reader, though I did recently downsize my book collection by three whole boxes as part of my attempts to de-clutter my apartment so possibly an e-reader would be a good next step in helping me eliminate more physical books.
~Cras
Cras,
I can’t recommend an e-reader enough. They are such a handy way to keep SO MANY BOOKS. My wife was reluctant to get one b/c she (like me) loves the feel of a book in her hands. But there’s nothing saying you CAN’T still buy books whenever you want. You can just enjoy many many books without them overtaking your home! :)
I enjoy reading, not so much novels or thrillers, good magazines, the newspaper, the Gospel, the Epistle, books on the life of Saints, history books, biographies of people who had been promise in history , reference books on favorite subject. When I was younger we had a World Book encyclopedia which I used to love to read.
Bookworms, the whole lot of you! I’m happy to see that you all enjoy reading as much as I do – I’m going to check out some of the recommendations you’ve given me.
(Currently reading the last of Christopher Moore’s Bloodsucking Fiends series.)
– Dana