A love affair with reading

I have to say that my love affair with reading began at an early age. I loved for one of my parents to read me a bedtime story or take time during the day to sit down a flip through a book with me. That grew into a passion for reading that will probably last a lifetime. As a child books were wonderful things that took me different places, far away lands with happy endings and towns where I wished I lived. Books were my way escaping real life back then and it was nice to be able to go to a place where life was not complicated. There was a time when my parents would punish me for reading when I should have been doing chores or homework. They actually took away books when I was in trouble, and I'm not sure I have met another person who was punished like that. Yet in college I had to put my books on hold and focus on my classes.

The problem for me is that when I get a new book I must read it as soon as possible. I cannot wait a week and dislike having to wait a day to begin. My first reading is a fairly quick one, as I want to know the plot and the characters and find out what happens ASAP. But the second and third and fourth readings are in-depth and take days. I get lost in the plot, and forget the world around me. If the book is long enough and I invest enough, I tend to begin the think that the characters are real and the events of the book are actually taking place. It can take me a while to surface again after having been in whatever book I was reading. I have ignored friends, homework, family, and boyfriends for the sake of a book.

I just recently re-discovered this passion, as I am out of college now and have the time to read a good novel. So I am re-reading a few books that I did not have the time to properly devote to them before. Books I wanted during college and was only able to give them a quick read. I am now able to go back and delve into the worlds created by some of my favorite authors and get lost in the southerness of the books. Right now the world Pat Conroy has created in "South of Broad" is my alternate universe and I am learning all the side stories as well as I am learning the plot. When I am finished I will be able to recount the story over and over, to the point that if I ever find myself thinking about the book, I can find that part and read on.

I am told that my parents worried about me learning to read when I was in the first grade. It seems that I did not catch on as fast as they wanted me to, but when I did begin to read I went through every book in the classroom three times and was in the second grade reader by the end of the year. Pretty good for starting my true love affair with reading after Christmas break. So it continues today, to the point that I collect books by my favorite authors and could fill multiple bookcases with the books I own. I truly hope I will always have this love affair with reading, for it is one of the best joys in the world.