Reading: My Re-Ignited Love Affair…

BOOKS…

It’s amazing how books spark imagination.  Like really to start… there’s a story… then the images of that story are totally up to you.  Authors do their best to set the stage by providing details surrounding each circumstance but… books give you options.  No two people will read the same book and come up with the exact same images… of the characters… their actions… or the settings.  Word is bond… once on vacation (I think it was Brazil), a friend (KP) and I swapped quite a few books during the trip.  But it was The Secret Life of Bees (by Sue Monk Kidd) that amazed me.  At one point, I looked up at my friend and said… you mean Lily is white??? She looked at me with a straight face and responded… well, her name is Lily.  When she said it, I got it, but… I-was-blown-away.  How had I not picked up on this tidbit of information while reading that was so blatant to her???

BOOKS… Amazing…

In addition to options… books need to captivate in a way that motivates readers to retain information so we can immediately be drawn back in to the story since most of us don’t have the time to read an entire novel in a single seating (hell… at least I don’t).  Soooo… you mean I start the book while headed to work on the bus (my commute is 1 ½ hours), work all day, crossword on my way home, and get back on the bus the next morning EAGER to read the same book.

BOOKS… Crazy…

Whelp… I must say that this is exactly what is happening to me lately (again).  I am absolutely fascinated, amazed, and crazed by books.  Lately I’ve been so captivated I just can’t put the books down, which is kinda weird for me.  Here’s some perspective…

Reading has never been one of my favorite past times, or at least it wasn’t when I was in school and they wanted us to read in English Literature (is that what they called it), so I missed out on the joy of The Great Gatsby (which I read immediately after seeing the movie), and countless other requirements I still haven’t read: Huck Finn, Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Catcher in the Rye, etc…  Let’s just say back then I figured out a way to read the first and last chapters, maybe one or two in the middle, and come up with a full book report.  To think about it, perhaps I enjoyed writing way back then and my “only child imagination” was put to good use, because I certainly needed to be creative to come up with a full book report after only reading three chapters.

However, the one book I did read in school was NIGHT by Elie Wiesel, a quick read about a young man and his father in a Nazi concentration camp.  I chose that particular book (when they started giving students choices) because it was about 95 pages cover to cover, one of the shortest books they ever presented to us when I was in the 8^th grade at The CHAD School.  True story:  I read it… and IT-WAS-GOOD.  So good, I still remember NIGHT as my very first novel (glad I didn’t ruin my first novel experience with one of those other lengthy books.)

Needless to say, NIGHT sparked my interest in reading, unfortunately I never read another full novel until well after college somewhere on a beach in Jamaica at some point in my twenties.  Officially, that’s how I started reading… on some beach…in Jamaica… high.  Still today… it’s difficult for me to lay on a beach without a book, especially on vacation.  I’ve read quite a few books over the years.  The entire catalogues of various authors: Michael Baisden, Benilde Little, Terry McMillan, Sista Solja, Sheneska Jackson (Sheneska please, write another book, please, Please, PLEASE), Eric Jerome Dickey, Zane, and I’m certain there have been others.  The problem with that is I’m not at the beach all the time so reading has taken quite the back seat in my life.

Let’s fast forward my Re-Ignited Love Affair with reading to 2011…

When the 50 Shades of Grey (E L James) trilogy began.  I read those three books from cover to cover (on my Kindle) in what felt like minutes.  E L James used words to convey hurt, compassion, angst, sex, pride, sensuality, brutality, perseverance, forgiveness, hope, optimism, and most importantly LOVE in to a three-book series that sits with me as the best book(s) I have EVER read.  Combined, the series tells the ultimate love story of boy meets girl, loses girl, and does everything in his power to win girl back so they live happily ever after.  Basically, it’s the adult Disney fairy tale, the ultimate LOVE story.  By far better than any book I’ve ever read or any chic-flic I’ve ever seen.

Any who (back to my Re-ignited Love Affair)… 50 Shades of Grey ( book #1) was turned into a movie in 2015 and I vowed to read the entire trilogy (again) before seeing the movie so I could critique accurately.  That said, let’s fast forward again to…

February 2017, when 50 Shades Darker (book #2) was released and keeping in tune with my vow to read the entire trilogy before seeing the (next) movie, I re-read all three books AGAIN, making the 50 Shades trilogy the only book(s) (because collectively I count them as 1 super special read) I have ever read 3 times.  Seriously, I’ve never read any book twice, let alone three times (and the 50 Shades trilogy is three separate books).  I should also mention in February 2017, HBO released its rendition of Big Little Lies (Liane Moriarty) as a series, which I refused to watch until I read the book and… OMG…

That was an awesome book TOO… love, rape, lust, kids, lies, puzzling, murder, marriage… all combined to tell a great story, checking the necessary boxes so I would… read again tomorrow.  I loved it!!!

BOOKS… Addicting…

With that, my Re-ignited Love Affair with reading has been sparked by 4 books.  Today I can’t leave the house without a book because I never know when I’ll have time to get in a few pages.  (Luckily, I have the Kindle app in my phone!)  Since February, I’ve read book, after book, after book:

• The Things We Wish Were True, Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
• All The Lies We Tell, Megan Hart
• We’re All Damaged, Matthew Norman
• Sisters One, Two, Three, Nancy Star
• A Cold Broken Hallelujah, Tyler Dilts
• The Travelers Gift, Andy Andrewso   (awe inspiring read)
• Doubt, C. E. Tobisman
• We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Not Enuf, Ntozake Shange
• Miller’s Valley, Anna Quindlen
  •   (More on the last three in a later post, powerful unintentional combo of reads)

All really good reads… it just kinda sucks that I didn’t revamp the blog before I read these books because I would have totally loved to write a “book report” on all of these books… all good reads for different reasons.  Oh well… I move on…

BOOKS… Worth IT!!!

Today, I’m in the midst of reading North Haven (Sarah Moriarty) and The Mermaid Chair (Sue Monk Kidd), both are pretty good so far and I look forward to discovering where my imagination takes these stories.  So, let’s wrap this up…

I used to read books because I was familiar with the author because I read a previous book.  Today… I read totally random books (with Amazon’s suggestions) and I enjoy every one.  I don’t know how long my Re-Ignited Love Affair with reading will last, but for now I am simply enjoying the wonder, imagination, thoughts, feelings, passion, commitment, and possibilities that come with READING… a Re-ignited Love Affair that continues to captivate my little heart.

(Seriously… I am literally reading two books at a time now… I just can’t get enough!)

I sincerely promise to share the joy of future reads on this blog…

Until next time…