When I Grow Up I Want a Library

And by library, I'm talking wall to wall, ceiling to floor, shelves covered in nothing but books. Well, ok, maybe a few really rockin bookends too :)

I am an avid reader. And by avid, I mean that I go through books like they are pamphlets. If it’s a week where I am working three twelve hour shifts in a row, it’s not uncommon to breeze through a book or two a week. (Unfortunately, this makes it hard on the credit card and my amazon.ca addiction)

When I'm at work, I snuggle down on one of the couches and waste my breaks away with my nose stuffed in a book. I’ve even gotten pretty good at doing the ready-walky thing too.

I know...but don’t judge. Sometimes the book is THAT good that I don’t want to stop reading while I walk to the elevator!

(SIDE STORY: But I may a have problem... I mean when the construction guy in the large hospital you work in, comments to you one day while you’re NOT ready-walking “you must be having a bad day, you’re not reading” (and I WAS having a rotten day!!) maybe you gots a problem!)

PUT DOWN THE BOOK!

But I digress.

I will read any book with words. Deep suspenseful thrillers, all the way to your Harlequin romance fluff.  The only real exception I have is that I’m not really a huge fan of the sci-fi/fantasy genre.

My obsession with books started at a young age, when I was introduced to Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, in the Sweet Valley Twins series. I recently dug my collection of SV books out of my parents crawl space, and after brushing off coodies, (and I'm not gonna lie...there may have been a bitsy-bit of mould :O ), I have rediscovered that I own almost the entire series.

As I grew up, so did the Wakefield twins. I moved on with them as they went through the trials and tribulations of high school and then university. Obsessed I was. Any spare few dollars went to buy a book. And if Santa didn’t bring the Coles gift certificate, Christmas just wasn’t the same.

I have joined the book club at work and have loved how much more interactive reading has become. There is a group of us that meet every other month to discuss the books that we chose as a group. I love how much more I get out of the book when I discuss it with others, being able to swap opinions: who were your favourite (or least favourite) characters who you got to know over the last few hundred pages. And discussing as a group gives you someone else’s take on certain passages and storylines…a bit of a look from a different perspective.

And then there are those really stupid “choose you own adventure” kinda books, where the end leaves you to create your own idea of how it all wraps up. (Has anyone read The Road…? Perfect example of choose your own ending. Did he get eaten by cannibals or did he meet up with the “good guys”.) Everyone takes something different away from books so it’s nice to get together and book club it up!

Plus, most of the time there is wine!

Today I start one of the two newest book club books that I must read in the next few weeks. The one I may rip through first hasn’t had the best reviews from my fellow book-clubbers, so I think I will read `City of God’ first so that I can really take my time and enjoy the next one, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo`. I have high expectations on that one so ill keep everyone posted!

Off to go read!

Cheers!