Sunday, October 7, 2012

Need to Read

 “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
― Stephen KingOn Writing

       Ah, yes, reading.   Reading is what I depend on to get me through the day, through life.  It is my current one-and-only-go-to drug. I start and end my day with reading and spend  much of my free time and my work time reading one thing or another.  Reading, in one form or another, is what motivates me to get out of bed in the morning.
 
      My first pleasure of the day (generally around 4:30 am) is to check my email and see if there is anything good.  "Anything good" means an email from friends or family, a link to some interesting article, a quote from Goodreads to start my day, stuff like that.  After I take a few minutes to compose any necessary responses or send any emails out, I check a few other on line pleasures:  Huffington Post, FaceBook, Blogger, New York Times - just a few minutes to see what might be happening out there.  If time permits or it works into part of my workout time, I check Flipboard on my ipad.



      When I get home from work, generally I simply want some space, some silence, and something to read. I always have several books "going" but there is a primary one.  This is the one I will grab after work.  At other times and in different moods, I will select one of probably ten different periodicals to which we subscribe.  I might also choose something related  to painting or writing or even something related to work.  It's all good.

        I wonder what it is about reading that satisfies me so much.  I would much rather read than watch television.  I would rather read than socialize in the evenings. Reading is my default for relaxation, for escape, for good times and bad times.  I seldom drive away from the house without putting something to read in the car (just in case I have a flat tire and I have to wait for AAA). I love exploring things to read and have an intimate relationship with Amazon.com for book reviews.  I have been on Goodreads for several years but just recently started using it for more than quotes.  My idea of a lovely Saturday afternoon is to wander around the local independent bookseller and drool over all the books.  

      Again, I ask:  what is it that is so satisfying?  Is it the escape?  My life is not so terrible!  I don't need an escape.  Perhaps reading plays with that part of my brain that wants excitement and novelty, wants to learn, wants to feel, wants to be alive.  I find myself reading and rereading some sections simply because I delight in the way the words sound.  Sometimes I am taken with the way the words make me feel, even when that feeling is ephemeral and difficult to describe.  I do think reading connects me to something. Sometimes the connection is to the author or to the content.  More often, the reading connects me to some part of myself.  So that's it!  Reading is about connecting.  Connecting allows me not to be alone in my doubts, my thoughts, my dreams, my imagination.

    Does this fit?  

             “We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel... is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.” 
                       Ursula K. LeGuin

    Yes, I kind of like that.

   


   



15 comments:

  1. Oh Gracie, I love this! I can relate so much. I look forward to settling down with a book in the same way people look forward to the next episode of their favorite shows. I agree with you about the connecting, about the re-reading passages because the words just sound good and I want to savor them again. Fantastic piece. I just love it.

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    1. Why, thank you, TL! I have a lot to say about reading but I guess I'd rather go and read than say more!

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  2. I love this! My mother read to us when we were young, and the rest is history. During the worst of my battle with depression almost 2 years ago, I got a Kindle. Going to the bookstore was daunting in those dark days. Being able to click a new book to the Kindle saved me many times. Reading has saved me again and again.
    I love the photos-- is the Dear Sugar book good?

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  3. Funny, my parents did not routinely read to us but, we were a houseful of readers anyway. Reading was highly valued and it was an affordable pastime. One example? we subscribed to two daily papers and everyone wanted to read that paper.
    and, you are right on, reading has saved me so many times.
    I liked the Dear Sugar book. I was reading her column long before she became well known for Wild - she is an amazingly wise woman and she has a powerful way with words.

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  4. I'm reading the first book I have, since I was in Ireland. It's a dusty who-dun-it, that I found without looking for anything in particular. I used to read...

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    1. And you will read again. You lost it for awhile but maybe, as things are shifting and rearranging, you will discover it, tossed under the the laundry basket in the bathroom or somewhere. Maybe even outside under the hammock? Have you looked over at the big house? Maybe you left it there when you went to bring in firewood back in the day?

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    2. I have borrowed and read hundreds of books from Pauline. That is actually a great idea-to go check out her library. We had a great chat today, while watching Buster hit his grand slam and win the NLDS for the Giants.

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  5. I don't read as voraciously as I did even 5 years ago but not a day goes by that I don't have my nose stuck in a book of some kind at some point. It's comfort. It's ending each night with a dearest friend who tucks me while I read her story.

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  6. This is so me. I don't read books as often as I used to, but I go through phases. I'll read 3-4 books in 2 weeks, then just online sources like blogs and digital magazine subscriptions for a few months. I like to read when I travel. When I get on a plane, my goal is to either be asleep before we take off, or nose-deep in a book. That's the disadvantage to my e-reader. "turn off all electronics," which, by the way, has been proven to be pointless, at least when it comes to items in airplane mode. (The TSA and FAA don't listen to me! :-)

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    1. I would have to stop reading reviews of books in order to stop reading books -- and reviews? Good reviews are awesome - such teasers.

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  7. You've got National Geographic! Haven't seen that in a long time. We subscribe to the New Yorker, but there is a stack of ones we are way behind on. Recently got a Kindle for my wife, she finds it easier in bed and to carry than a book, and if she finishes one the next is right there. I still like hitting the bookstore and getting a stack, we have inundated our 7 year old granddaughter who loves books (thank goodness).

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  8. Oh what I wouldn't do to read piles and piles of books like I used to before the accident. Can't seem to concentrate like i used to and it hasn't gotten any better.

    I believe I've successfully gotten to the end of maybe 5 or 6 books in 6 years, it's darn depressing.

    I do get a tremendous kick out of reading and picking out children's books for the grandkids. It seems regardless of my difficulties I still love books even the kiddie kind and I can if you ask my granddaughter be a bit of a drama queen when i read a bed time story!!

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  9. I'm with you on the reading. I go to two different libraries a week and since I won the kindle, I have a book going on there too. I would love to subscribe to magazines and journals, but I'm too broke, so I sit in the library and read the ones I like. The Sun is my favorite. My dream is to be published by them. They've had one of my essays since January, but that doesn't mean a darn thing.
    I think I read to escape, but also to feel and discover parts of myself.

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  10. Love the quote--and you already know I'm 100% with you on the reading habit. For me I think it's about connection and engagement. If I don't keep my brain busy, it starts to chase its own tail--and that's not going to work out well for me or anyone around me. But it's not just self-preservation--there is very real joy in the rhythm of language and the search for insight.

    Loved this post!

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