I'm hooked on phonics. This isn't a recent development, it's been a lifelong problem. While other kids were breaking their arm falling off a jungle gym or trading Pokemon cards, I was reading. We also didn't have cable tv or a computer until I was in the eighth grade, so what better activity for a kid who hates going outside and getting dirty? I'm a very voracious reader, meaning that I get completely sucked in and usually finish a book in two days or so, and that's going slow.
My addiction was mostly under control until a few months ago. Sure, I read the whole Twilight series in a single weekend, and when I stood in line at midnight for the last Harry Potter book, I had the thing finished by sunrise. But books are expensive (who has $15-30 to drop on one book?) and I'm cheap. I know what you're going to say, why don't I just go to the library? Well that's another problem, because although the library is right across the street from our apartment complex, I'm also lazy, and that usually seems just too far away.
December was really when I fell off the wagon. The first installment of The Hobbit movies was set to come out in theaters and I wanted to re-read the book. It had been since middle school and the details were fuzzy, plus who doesn't love sitting in the theater and critiquing every minor detail the director leaves out from the written counterpart? The Hobbit was finished in a day or two, and then I started missing Middle Earth. The Lord of the Rings trilogy came next. Then it happened. I remembered that our library has an app where you can borrow eBooks for a couple of weeks at a time, up to ten books at a time! And they have a selection of several thousand books, readily available to be downloaded onto my iPad from the convenience of my own couch. The wonders of technology, right ?
My addiction was mostly under control until a few months ago. Sure, I read the whole Twilight series in a single weekend, and when I stood in line at midnight for the last Harry Potter book, I had the thing finished by sunrise. But books are expensive (who has $15-30 to drop on one book?) and I'm cheap. I know what you're going to say, why don't I just go to the library? Well that's another problem, because although the library is right across the street from our apartment complex, I'm also lazy, and that usually seems just too far away.
December was really when I fell off the wagon. The first installment of The Hobbit movies was set to come out in theaters and I wanted to re-read the book. It had been since middle school and the details were fuzzy, plus who doesn't love sitting in the theater and critiquing every minor detail the director leaves out from the written counterpart? The Hobbit was finished in a day or two, and then I started missing Middle Earth. The Lord of the Rings trilogy came next. Then it happened. I remembered that our library has an app where you can borrow eBooks for a couple of weeks at a time, up to ten books at a time! And they have a selection of several thousand books, readily available to be downloaded onto my iPad from the convenience of my own couch. The wonders of technology, right ?
December is a busy month with Christmas and visiting family and whatnot, so I only read seven books. I know I know, it sounds ridiculous, only seven, right? Well just look at January and you'll see why I said only. I managed to read eighteen books in thirty-one days. This is the point where I start looking for Books Anonymous meetings and memorizing the Serenity Prayer.
I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. This list isn't even exhaustive as I didn't include books I started and didn't finish (like Life of Pi...I know everyone loves that book but I just didn't get it) or the several Paleo lifestlye/cookbooks I read. Since I was unemployed, I am ashamed to admit that I spent most of my days reading and would fill in a couple of applications or clean something here or there so Shane would think I'd been productive during the day.
February brought employment, and thus less reading. My number has gone back down to that of a (somewhat) functional member of society. As of today, March 3rd, I still haven't finished the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, but considering that the four books together have almost four thousand pages, I think I'm doing okay.
Don't you worry...me, my library card, and my shiny new-to-me Kindle still have a lot of work to do. I have four other ebooks currently checked out from the library (and due back by March 10th! I better get to reading) and a stack of paperbacks-in-waiting from the bargain book store. Sometimes I wonder why I didn't become a librarian, because that is some work I wouldn't mind bringing home with me.
***I am posting reviews of all my books on my profile at goodreads, which I have somehow just discovered, and will likely post future book reviews here as well. I would love to get a book club together, virtual or real, if anyone is interested!***
