This week's topic is:
TEN BOOKISH CONFESSIONS
Are these secrets? Some of them, for sure. Others are just me being me and those who are close to me would expect nothing else. Either way, I have not professed them all in such a public fashion as this week's list implores me to do so. So, before I even get started I'm going to ask you for forgiveness just in case anything that follows offends your bookish sensibilities.
1. I currently owe the library just under $30 and three books! Who knows what the heck happened there. I have the NYPL iPhone app which allows me to renew my books from home, but I kept missing the date. Also, why haven't I finished reading The Maze Runner yet, anyway?! On Saturday, I decided I should just sit down, read it cover to cover and head back over to my library on Sunday. I'd been telling myself this ALL summer, but when I saw that I had to confess this week I gav myself the Sunday deadline. I didn't make it. I'm up to Chapter 21 in The Maze Runner and I had to return it! I think, by the end of this week, I'll probably break down and go take it out AGAIN!
2. I'm an "in-store" reader. I live down the block from a Barnes & Noble bookstore. Ever since the store opened my friends and family have come to know that if I am missing chances are you'll find me there. Due to this fact there are many books which I have read, cover to cover, while sitting in the store. I will hang out, read, take note of what page I'm on, and then pick it up on my next visit. Yes... it is like stealing, but very often I end up buying the book before I'm finished with it anyway. So far, I think I have only managed to complete an in-store read twice.
3. I like to write in my books. It was sophomore year of high school. I had purchased The Lord of the Flies to read in class and we had tons of notes to take on the story when it occurred to me: Why do I keep the notes in a separate notebook? Wouldn't it be easier to reference RIGHT HERE in my book? Well, that was it - I started taking notes in the book and LOVED the completed product. Not only was William Golding's entire tale held between the covers, but so was all that I had learned about it's symbolism, characterization, themes and author! I don't do this all of the time, but when I see a book as a learning experience I write ALL OVER IT. These days that happens in particular in books on the craft of writing like On Writing by Stephen King, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont and The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith.
4. I prefer audiobooks to music. I don't know when this started exactly - probably when I first came home from the hospital after my diagnosis with Intracranial Hypertension. Audiobooks serve two purposes: they sweep me away to magnificent other worlds while calming me and resting my eyes. I am a super-fan of audiobooks when I am in the middle of doing chores I really want nothing to do with (ie. chances are if I am folding laundry, I am listening to a story!).
5. I just started re-reading. I have always been of the belief that there are far too many books in the universe for me to spend time re-read one that I have already experienced. However, I have spent a lifetime re-watching television shows and movies just for the sheer enjoyment - why didn't I understand that I deserved this same enjoyment in my reading life? I don't know why it took me so long to realize, but now that I have, I've been having a great time!
6. I love assigned reading. I enjoyed almost every single novel that was ever assigned to me to read in school. Therefore, after graduating high school and being freed from the lifestyle of assigned reading, I found myself at a loss for awhile as to what I should read next. It is for this reason that I find myself obsessed with reading lists of all kinds: from magazines, blogs and school. I collect these lists and perceive them as my own type of assigned reading.
7. I loved the experience of reading the Twilight series. While the paranormal romance is not one of my favorite series that I ever read, the experience of reading the Twilight books is one that I look back on with nostalgia and hope to recapture again soon. I was teaching and noticed many students reading this book with an apple on the cover. I was excited they were reading at all and became curious myself. Then, a bunch of teachers decided to read the book all together. As I read the books and carried them with me, strangers would approach me discussing their own experience with the reading. It was something I had not experienced since reading Harry Potter and I thought it was magnificent: people were unified around reading! This is why I will always have fond memories of reading the entire Twilight series before the films came out.
8. I feel guilty when I don't want to read a book. Intellectually I know this is ridiculous. I have different tastes than others, different preferences and I should not have to read every book that is ever discussed in the public domain. However, I often feel guilty when I have no desire to read a book that is gaining popularity. This is, I believe, due to the joy I find in reading books with large groups of people (see #7 on this list), but I shouldn't have to convince myself to spend time reading a book I'm not interested in just to engage in literary conversations. Currently, I am having this issue with Fifty Shades of Grey, a book I have NO interest in reading that confuses my family because they are all enjoying it and I'm the one who "reads everything."
9. I'm a Disney kid. I grew up with Jimeny Cricket, Pinnocchio, Dumbo, Bambi and Cinderella in all of their animated glory. As the years passed I gobbled up more and more animated films from Disney Studios and never once questioned their interpretations. I know these stories as they were shown to me; it is only now, as an adult, that I am beginning to wonder how my worldview would have been affected had these stories been initially read to me. I have not read any of the Disney animated stories in the original form (except Winnie the Pooh and a bit of Alice In Wonderland). This is something I wish to rectify and perhaps will turn into a Rivera Runs Through It blog challenge now that I am thinking about it!
10. I judge books by their covers. I can't help myself, however, particularly when I am strolling around my Barnes and Noble, I get an impression when I see the cover of a book. Over the years I have stumbled upon some pretty awesome reads before they became super-popular just based on my own impression of their covers! Some examples I can remember are: Life of Pi, The Lovely Bones, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time. In each case, I saw the book, grabbed it and sat in a big comfy chair to start reading right away. I did not read the back cover, I just sat down and started reading page one (attempted "in-store" reads that were all purchased the day they were found) and couldn't stop!
That's it. Ten confessions from this book-chick. What about you? Are you ready to confess? Do you share some of my own weaknesses?! Share below in the comments!
5. I just started re-reading. I have always been of the belief that there are far too many books in the universe for me to spend time re-read one that I have already experienced. However, I have spent a lifetime re-watching television shows and movies just for the sheer enjoyment - why didn't I understand that I deserved this same enjoyment in my reading life? I don't know why it took me so long to realize, but now that I have, I've been having a great time!
7. I loved the experience of reading the Twilight series. While the paranormal romance is not one of my favorite series that I ever read, the experience of reading the Twilight books is one that I look back on with nostalgia and hope to recapture again soon. I was teaching and noticed many students reading this book with an apple on the cover. I was excited they were reading at all and became curious myself. Then, a bunch of teachers decided to read the book all together. As I read the books and carried them with me, strangers would approach me discussing their own experience with the reading. It was something I had not experienced since reading Harry Potter and I thought it was magnificent: people were unified around reading! This is why I will always have fond memories of reading the entire Twilight series before the films came out.
8. I feel guilty when I don't want to read a book. Intellectually I know this is ridiculous. I have different tastes than others, different preferences and I should not have to read every book that is ever discussed in the public domain. However, I often feel guilty when I have no desire to read a book that is gaining popularity. This is, I believe, due to the joy I find in reading books with large groups of people (see #7 on this list), but I shouldn't have to convince myself to spend time reading a book I'm not interested in just to engage in literary conversations. Currently, I am having this issue with Fifty Shades of Grey, a book I have NO interest in reading that confuses my family because they are all enjoying it and I'm the one who "reads everything."10. I judge books by their covers. I can't help myself, however, particularly when I am strolling around my Barnes and Noble, I get an impression when I see the cover of a book. Over the years I have stumbled upon some pretty awesome reads before they became super-popular just based on my own impression of their covers! Some examples I can remember are: Life of Pi, The Lovely Bones, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time. In each case, I saw the book, grabbed it and sat in a big comfy chair to start reading right away. I did not read the back cover, I just sat down and started reading page one (attempted "in-store" reads that were all purchased the day they were found) and couldn't stop!That's it. Ten confessions from this book-chick. What about you? Are you ready to confess? Do you share some of my own weaknesses?! Share below in the comments!
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