The Need to Read

Don’t you just love settling down in a big comfy chair and escaping into a really good book? The hours just fly by!
I’ve enjoyed reading ever since I was a teenager, devouring some heavy hitters just for the fun of it. There was a while there in junior high that I felt like Hermann Hesse had written “Steppenwolf” expressly for me (I know – me and a million other kids)!
Books are such good friends! I like the way they look, I like how the stories stick with me, I even like the way they smell. It’s a sad fact folks aren’t reading as much anymore. Watching TV is easier, and the Internet is faster, but I don’t think Web sites or digital readers will ever take the place of a good old solid book you can hold in your hands.

That said, I admit I’ve gotten lazy in my old age, and sometimes I lose patience with the time it takes to get through a novel. So I don’t even start!
"How ’bout some cheese with that whine?"
Having to work for a living doesn’t help. 9 to 5 pretty much exhausts most of my brain cells, which start yelling “Please don’t make me work anymore!” At that point, an episode of “Jeopardy” is about all I can handle.
I guess I shouldn’t think of reading as learning. If I thought of it as entertainment, it wouldn’t be so hard to make time for it.

And then there’s eyestrain. I have some vision problems, and reading isn’t easy for me. I won’t go into details, but basically the muscles in my eyes don’t work well together. Not very conducive to relaxing reading! Some days are especially hard on my eyes (driving, bright sunlight, computer work), and by the time I’m home, concentrating on printed words is the last thing I want to do.
I have great respect for books and the people who read and write them. And I don’t think you can pound home too strongly the importance of parents reading to young kids and getting them interested in reading on their own as soon as possible.
I also think the world would be a dark and horrible place without our public libraries. They’re there for everybody, and they don’t cost a dime!
Still, sometimes reading is like a golf game: it takes an awfully long time to get to the good parts. But just having books around makes me feel good, like knowing it’s a sunny day even though I can’t be outside enjoying it.
Maybe I don’t read much because I like it too much! When I let myself get sucked in by a good book, it’s all I can think about until I’ve turned the last page, and then I’m sorry it’s over. It’s an emotional roller coaster! And I can do a mountain of procrastinating in the time it takes me to digest a 500-page yarn, so then I feel guilty and self-indulgent. Plus there’s that fear of commitment thing.
I think I need therapy to deal with my reading issues! I’m sure someone’s written a book about that.

Playlist:
1. The Book I Read – Talking Heads
2. Turn The Page – Bob Seger
3. Book of Love – Dar Williams
4. The Book of My Life – Sting
5. The Story of Her Love – Seals & Crofts
6. Novel – Tim Williams
7. Read My Mind – The Killers
8. Doctor My Eyes – Jackson Browne
9. The Book I’m Not Reading – Patty Larkin
10. At The Library – Green Day