I love to read. I need to read. I can’t properly explain my love for the written word. To someone who enjoys a good book now and then, or someone like my smart, adorable husband who has a bent more to magazines (horrid, geeky things that he reads cover to cover, every word, even using bookmarks to keep his place – who reads magazines like that? Sorry, babe.), my desire to read is hard to understand.
I’m rarely between books, as I typically have more than one going at a time. On the rare occasion I find myself bookless, I’m at sea without a rudder. Or something. I don’t know anything about boating, but I think that rudder thingy is important. At any rate, I’m a bit lost without a book. I start reading every word on the cereal box, or in desperate situations, the junk mail.
Mark laughs at my voracity with just a hint of annoyance in his chuckle. He can’t understand that no matter how tired I am, with few exceptions, I need to read – at least a few pages – every night. Would an illiterate wife be more to your liking? I ask. That shuts him up.
One of the beautiful things about books, one of the things I’ve had trouble describing before now, is how they transcend time and space to unite people all over the world. I feel connected to something much larger than myself when I read. This experience became very personal earlier this week.
When Mark’s grandmother passed away we flew to Michigan to help his parents pack up her house. I never met her, because she was in the throes of dementia by the time I met Mark. Meeting me would have been incredibly confusing for her. After we got married, Mark flew up for a visit and showed her pictures of the wedding. Several times. Every day. Clearly, meeting me, live and in person, would have thrown the poor woman for an unnecessary loop.
When we got to Michigan, I sat back and allowed Mark’s family to deal with his grandparents’ belongings. I provided manual labor and emotional support. But then, when they were going through the books, Mark wanted to keep some of them and wasn’t sure where to start. Together we made some selections, brought them home and placed them lovingly on our shelves.
Now and then, I pick up one Gram’s book’s. Most recently, I picked up a Dick Francis novel, Driving Force, that was published in 1992. While Francis’ novels, mysteries set in the world of horse racing, are not something to which I would typically gravitate, I have a soft spot for them after learning that he was a favorite of Mark’s grandparents. They had a number of first editions and Mark’s dad told me that they read most, if not all, of Francis’ books (there are 42 of them, and only four were published after 2000).
As I turned a page in Driving Force, a newspaper article about Francis and the book fell out. The way it was cut out, I can’t tell which paper it came from or the date on which the article was published. A quick internet search did not reveal any information, but it’s obvious from the content that the article was written to promote the 1992 publication of the book.
On the surface, it’s just an article, stuffed in a book and forgotten. But my heart kind of skipped a beat when it fell out. I felt this automatic connection, and kinship, with people I have never met. I imagined Mark’s grandmother carefully cutting out the article and then using it for a bookmark. Now, 18 years later, I’m flipping the same book pages, reading the same article. And perhaps 20 years from now one of my sons will do the same.
That’s why I read. You never know what’s going to fall out of a book, be it figurative and intangible or literal, like a newspaper clipping. I love opening a book and finding notes and scribbles. There’s something magical about knowing someone else read the same words, and turned those words over in their mind, whether it was days or decades before.
So today I wonder why do you read? Or, heaven forbid, why do you not read?
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A book-related side note: I am now an official reader for Katie’s Bookcase, a blog dedicated to book reviews and run by the author of the blog, Sluiter Nation. I recently wrote my first-ever review, and I hope to write a few more in coming months. Please visit Katie’s Bookcase and take a look around!
Lapsed homemaker. Looking to hire a full-time housekeeper who will work for the sheer joy of a job well done and free coffee. Interested parties, DM please. 
Just saw a stat today that 27% of Americans didn’t read a single book last year. HUH? That horrifies me. And I shared it with my kids and they couldn’t believe it.
I can’t tell you why I read — I don’t know how to articulate it. I just know that I can’t NOT read. It’s like breathing to me. I’ve got to do it. I’ll read just about anything — and thank that fabulous Librarian in the Sky for my Kindle….I now read all the time, everywhere, always.
I know the standard responses about “no time to read” or whatnot. I just can’t imagine that. I read into the night…..too far into the night….waiting at carlines….in doctors’ offices….I fit it in here and there.
One of my fondest memories of baby #1 is having her nursing on our “boppy” pillow and me reading. Gosh, I loved those years.
@Alyson: Common Sense, Dancing, I miss those days of baby in one arm, book in the other. I got a lot of reading done then.
I remember when my babies started getting too active, hands flying everywhere, making it hard for me to read while nursing. That was a bummer for many reasons, not the least of which was the end of my quiet reading time.
I am sooooooo a reader. Since about 3rd or 4th grade. I was known for getting in trouble for reading in the middle of classes instead of paying attention.
Right now, I’m having trouble getting into the books I’ve picked at the library and it drives me bonkers!!!
The book that I have started is set on the island of Capri. When will I ever get a chance to go there? :0)
@kimmie, It is so disappointing when you’re really excited about a book and then it just doesn’t click. Hope you find a good read soon!
What a treasure! I love finding trinkets like that. And reading notes people write in books really make me think. I had a friend give me books when she moved away, some of which were sort of self help or spiritual book in which she made notes…those I couldn’t read because I felt like I was prying too far in her personal feelings. I packed them back up and she’s back in town, so I think I shall return them to her.
@SuziCate, That would feel a bit like prying. If she’s like I am, she completely forgot that she had notes in those books! I’m sure she’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness.
I read because I breathe.
No, seriously though, I think it’s because real life has a lot of waiting. Books are a world in which there isn’t waiting – you can fast forward 15 years to the end of the novel to see how things end. You don’t get to do that in real life. It makes books a safe escape because I know I’ll get to find out how it ends. Where as in life, I have to wait. A really long time.
@KLZ, I love that. I think it’s a perfect way to describe the joy of reading. We’re in control of very little in life; it’s nice to know how the story ends sometimes.
Thanks for stopping by today! I read. I love to read. And, my husband is a magazine connoisseur as well…minus the bookmarks that is! My problem is finding the time to read. I think this is why I like to travel…no better time to read than on a plane!
@Blogging Goddess, Isn’t that the truth? I love flying, because it’s perfect reading time.
As for my husband’s magazine bookmarks, I find it so odd. But we’ve been married for almost 14 years and I’ve just accepted it as one of his (many) quirks. Did I say “many”? I meant “endearing.” Maybe your husband could explain to mine the art of reading a magazine without bookmarks.
I love that you love to read! I do love reading, but a lot of the time it gets pushed aside for other, more mundane tasks. I have a massive pile when I come home from the library, but many are still unread when the time comes to return them. Pooh! I do find that I have to be reading something while sitting around, even if it’s a magazine (with dog-eared pages)!
Cool about your book reviews!!
@Sherri @ Old Tweener, Finding time is the toughest part. I read in short bursts these days. I used to plow through books, and occasionally I can still pull that off, but in general it takes me longer to read than it used to. Most nights I can’t manage more than a chapter (or a few pages). Rarely, I get very caught up, stay up way too late, and pay for it the next day. I can’t help myself, though.
I always think that my retirement will be spent working my way methodically through the enormous pile of books that I’m accumulating now! 😉
oh no…now both you and alyson won’t be my friend, and you won’t want to hang with me at blissdom.
i don’t read. i’m the illiterate wife.
@liz, This comment made me snort. I’ve been kind of serious and cranky today, so thank you for a much needed laugh! You lightened my whole day.
I promise we can still be friends. In fact, if by coincidence, something tragic happens to both me and Craig, I will make sure Mark knows you are a suitable mate. You and he can happily not-read together. I will haunt you, of course, but I’m sure you’ll both understand.
I love to read, I have always loved reading! When I was a teenager I was always in the middle of at least 3 books and somehow I never needed a single bookmark for any of them!
I still love reading as an adult though I read less books (thanks to the internet, I read a lot online). I always have a pile of books from the library and I often don’t finish them in time so I have to write down what page I left off at and put the book back on hold.
I love novels, nonfiction, anything really. I love self improvement so I enjoy reading about issues that I want to grow in. I love novels, it’s so fun to get sucked into someone else’s world for a while. I also enjoy reading books on child rearing, relationships, business and so much more.
I have honestly had more education since being out of school than when I was in. Because I love choosing what I want to learn about!
@Stacy, You sound like my kind of reader. I like to read a lot of different genres, too!
I love this. I too am often reading three or four books at a time. Are you familiar with Goodreads? It’s a site where you can get recommendations and share reviews. A few years ago I made a New Year’s resolution (one of the few I’ve pretty much stuck with!) to read one literary classic and one spiritual/self-help book for every trashy novel I read. Then we had our kiddos and I’m often reading two or three parenting books while reading one of the ones in my resolution rotation. That’s fantastic that you are doing reviews! Congrats! (BTW, stumbled you from Liz’s BlogFrog!)
@NotJustAnotherJennifer, Thanks so much for the stumble! I am trying to get in the habit of doing that. I’m a total newbie.
I have a Goodreads account and need to use it more. I was really good about updating it and then fell off a bit when I started blogging. I love that site, though! Need to get back to it.
Thanks again for the stumble and for stopping by. 🙂
I love to read, but I do spent significant chunks of time between books. I read magazines and take a break before committing to another novel. I don’t know why I’ve never liked to read them back to back. I guess it gives each story time to settle into my brain.
My husband reads Road and Track. That’s it!
@Joey @ Big Teeth & Clouds, I call that a palette cleanser – sometimes you have to take a break before launching into the next book!