A Lifetime Love Affair with Books

I say lifetime because while I haven’t been reading from the time I was born of course, I have since the time I can remember, which is around five years old. There was nothing that thrilled me more than a story and how the words painted a picture right before my eyes. I learned to read by myself fairy quickly as a result. In school, I was often the kid who not only read the story that was assigned out of the reader; I would ask to take it home so that I could read more. Some of my friends couldn’t understand why I wanted to read so much in my spare time because they would rather play games or watch TV.  Granted, I loved those things too, but they never took me away like the words did.

During the summer I would be so happy when I had the whole day to read. I would finish a novel in one afternoon and try to have another lined up so I wouldn’t be too disappointed when the story was over. From the ages of 10 to 12, the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery swept me away. I decided that I wanted to be able to write like her one day, to take my reader away with beautiful imagery and delightful characters like Anne. I still love reading these books today and even after all this time, their magic hasn’t ended for me.

As I grew older, there was less time for my own reading. Life took over with school and work. In between college, the summers were my escape time, because even when I was working, I had no homework and my evenings were free. I used to drive home with my Dad and my shift ended before his, so I would wait for him in Tim Horton’s and enjoy a coffee and a Margaret Atwood novel.

I have learned that writing novels requires a lot more work than reading them, however it is true that   the more you read, the better your writing will be. The irony of this is that I sometimes become so caught up in my writing that I find myself reading a lot less. Still, something’s not right when I don’t have a book to read, and they will always keep me coming back for more.