Ah, I love books. Books, books, wonderful books! You can never run out of them. Every person has a recommendation for an old classic or a new author. You can read them all at once or bit by bit. They can be tucked into a purse or stacked beside your bed. They never spoil or expire. They can be read over and over and over without harm. Can there be anything more wonderful?
(OK, is it totally obvious I’m a librarian’s daughter?)
When it comes to reading, I have two very strange traits that coalesce. First, I’m a fast reader. Second, I’m extremely lazy. What does this mean? Simple. My house is strewn with half read books. Right now I have, with out any exaggeration, five books I am currently reading. Crazy? No. Just lazy. You see, it starts out simple enough. I check out a stack of books from the library and bring them home. Usually, I take one upstairs to read before bedtime. Totally normal, right? But here’s what happens. The next day, I find myself with some time after breakfast. I’m downstairs. My book, upstairs. To get it would mean walking all the way up to my room, passing my happily self-entertaining children and reminding them of my existence. I’m well aware of the fact that when they spied me, they would begin to demand food or snacks or a diaper change. This is unacceptable. The much simpler (and lazier) approach is to pick up another book from my to-be-read shelf and start it downstairs. And so book #2 begins. Repeat this in different rooms of the house and before you know it, every room has a started booked tucked away somewhere. Thankfully I’m a very fast reader so even though I may be reading several books at once, I can usually get them done and back to the library without incurring too many late fees.
And while I’m a very speedy reader, I sometime think I’m not quite fast enough. I keep discovering new books! Drat this Internet. There are so many great blogs and lists and catalogues a girl can get positively lost. I have anywhere from 10 to 20 books waiting for me each week from the library. 20 books! And they are all so good and different and interesting! It’s really rather decadent. Being smothered in books. I just finished adding another glut of fresh requests to my library list. Ah, I can hear them rustling their pages at me now. Hmmmm, I have another 15 minutes before the kids’ tv show ends. I’m sure I have a book tucked away somewhere in this room just waiting for me to flip through it’s pages. If not, there’s a stack of untapped stories waiting for me downstairs. Yum.