I love to read. I always have. Back when I was an elementary school student, the book bus used to come visit since the school was too small to have a library of its own. My firm aim was to get over from the picture-book side of the bus to the books-with-no-pictures side. I was determined to read the grown-up books.
That love, that hunger to read, hasn’t abated (picture books and all!). I still walk into a bookstore or library and go all loopy. Books, books, books everywhere! Oooh, I need that one. And that one. Oh and I definitely need that one. Remember that quote in the movie Sabrina (the one with Harrison Ford), where Sabrina says her father became a chauffeur so he’d have time to read?
I totally understood. 
For me, that love is intertwined with my passion for writing. I can’t imagine being a writer and not loving to read. I get as crazy-excited as any other reader when I discover a great book or a new author. As those of you who read my blog know, I’m then compelled to tell everyone about that book or author. Because sharing the magic is also part of the joy of reading.
Given that you’re all readers, how about you tell me what you love about reading?
Another great topic, Nalini!!
I’ve always been a reader. I distinctly remember reading Danielle Steel books in history class and always getting caught. LOL
I just love being able to find a book that can really take me to another place. I just love getting caught up in a fictional world with characters that seem so real.
When I’m at work (like I am now), I love knowing that at lunch I have a great book to read (thank you, Jo Goodman!).
That’s one of the things I just love about your blog! You have recommended some great new authors (for me). Linnea Sinclair comes to mind…Games of Command was one of my top 5 books last year.
I think that’s why I love reviewing so much. If I can get one person to pick up a Jo Goodman book (for example), I will consider it a job well done.
I could go on, but I’m rambled enough. *g*
ALways a reader here too.
For me it’s the escape. I become so engrossed I forget where I am, when I have to look up. If a book is written well, I share the emotions of the characters and because I’m a sensual person, it pleasures me. Whether it’s sadness, happiness, fear, vengeance, and yeah- luuuuust!
I love being lost in a setting too. My family doesn’t understand my passion for reading because they can’t lose themselves in it the way I can. At least I believe they can’t because they would have the same passion!
Library’s and bookstores are my favorite places on earth.
Yet another lifelong reader here.
Or as I usually put it, “Hello, my name is azteclady, and I am addicted to reading.”
I’ve been lucky, because I’m the granddaughter of a poet and the daughter of a bookaholic librarian, so not only were there lots of bookcases all full of books in the house, but my four elder siblings are addicted to reading too. This translated into two very distinct scenarios at meals: either there were five siblings sitting there, each with his/her nose in a book, or there were five siblings and two adults, quite often talking about books.
As both Casee and Zeek have said, a well written book will take me away from the ordinary and immediate, and into an entirely different place and time. It doesn’t matter if the book’s setting is contemporary, when the characters pull me in into their minds, their hearts, their lives, I have been transported to their world.
Sharing my favorite books and authors with people I like is one of the joys in my life. In fact, I’ve made a convert romance reader out of my SO in the past year and a half or so. What can be better than discussing your favorite romantic scene with the love of your life?
You found a question to bring me out of lurkdom! 🙂
When I was a kid (and had a handle on reading) my parents would very rarely answer a question about how to spell something or ‘what does this mean’. They always told me to look it up. They provided us with encyclopedias and all kinds of reference books as well as access to the town’s library. I remember yowling with frustration because I wanted the easy way but am eternally grateful for their methods because they bred in me a passionate affair with books. I learned to find information and to read widely and develop my own opinions about things. I learned the evils of censorship!
I didn’t just read non-fiction but also devoured everything with a fantasy, adventure, animal,or mystery component. Like the others have said, books can just bring you into other worlds!
By the time I was about 12 my older sister had amassed quite a collection of romance novels. I had to sneak a few 🙂
I remember my very first one….Violet Winspear’s ‘Blue Jasmine’. I’ve been a fan of the romance genre ever since, regardless of whether its historical, paranormal, sci fi, or contemporary.
The people in my books come alive to me. Its like in Harry Potter where the library books open up and people and things come out! Since a person experiences the people and places in a book then remembers them as real, every book on my shelf contains a whole lot of other dimensions of my life. I love it.
Books, books, books everywhere! Oooh, I need that one. And that one. Oh and I definitely need that one.
That is me to a T. The first time I found a used book store near my house, I screeched at the top of my lungs. No, really. The owner of the shop looked at me like I’d lost a few marbles, but just seeing the shelves and boxes and stacks of books made me giddy.
I honestly can’t remember when my love of reading began. As long as I can remember I’ve loved stories (I believe it started with P.D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother) and the world they transported me to.
That, I think, is the beauty of the written word. A place to escape to. Like Zeek, I’m an emotional reader. I become invested in the lives and tales of the characters, the world the author creates, the trials and tribulations of the characters.
And I love sharing my love with others, which is one of the reasons I love blogland. Meeting others who share my passion is just amazing.
I have to tell you, the first time I read one of your books, I was transported, wrapped up and excited to see what would happen next. IMO, you’ve only gotten better with each book you’ve written. That is what it’s all about. Finding yourself lost in a world someone else created.
I love reading about history, especially the unusual or the tawdry. I will read books on everything from the plague and diseases to royal mistresses. It’s interesting to see how these unusual aspects of history actually shaped and influenced their times.
LOL Casee – I got caught with romance novels in English class (my favorite subject!). And isn’t Jo Goodman great?! She writes such rich, complex characters.
Zeek – I like the losing yourself in another world aspect, too. Sometimes, when things are stressful, I’ll just pick up a book and read and it’s amazing how calm it makes me.
Azteclady – I grew up surrounded by reading material too. It’s amazing how much you have to talk about with people, even if you read completely different things!
Laura – lol about sneaking romance novels. I have a couple of young aunts – one of them gave me a whole bunch when I was a teenager. I was hooked, absolutely hooked! Now I send her my books to read *grin*
Holly – thank you for that lovely compliment 🙂 I really love the internet for, as you said, providing a forum to meet other readers who love what I love. It’s so much fun discussing a book with others – or even just squeeing over a new author.
Georgie – it’s amazing what you can learn from books, isn’t it? I have the strangest pieces of information in my head sometimes!
I remember reading Message from Nam by DS and getting caught. I actually told my teacher that I was learning more about Vietnam from my romance novel than I was from my history book. LOL!
I so adore Jo Goodman. I can’t believe it took me this long to find her. She’s amazing.
My love of books started from being an infant. My mom would read us books. I grew to love books because I associated it with my mother’s love and devotion. To this day I still remember that with a feeling of joy. Today, reading for me is an escape. A chance to leave the everyday things we all have to put up with and escape into a fabulous story.
Nalini, yes, exactly! As has been mentioned before, books are both an escape into a different place–or a comfort zone if you will–and a way to connect with others. The characters in the book, first, but through them we connect with people and customs and mores that we wouldn’t be likely to encounter in our everyday lives.
Reading has always been a form of escape – a destressor in the form of exciting adventures, dashing heroes, and pretty heroines. (Okay, so I don’t really care much for the heroines…lol)
I love to read because I am able to live through the characters – be a southern belle, a wallflower, go on exciting adventures, solve murders and mysteries, and etc. The possibilities are endless.
I think it would be impossible for a good writer to dislike reading.
Casee – it’s true! I’ve learned so many interesting things from reading fiction!
Cherie – what a lovely memory 🙂
Azteclady – it definitely expands the mind doesn’t it?
Alice – yes, I love how a great writer can draw me so deeply into their world that I can imagine myself in it. 🙂
It expands the mind and one’s circle of friends as well. I love pimping out favorite authors and series.
What I love about reading is that it is so versatile – it can be done by oneself or with others. I love to curl up under a blanket in a cozy comfy chair and just enjoy the way the words create lovely pictures and thoughts in my head. It is also just as wonderful to share something funny or sweet or deep I read with someone who will appreciate it equally. Does that make sense? Thanks for sharing your memories and reasons Nalini. Lovely!
I’ve been a reader ever since I was in elementary school… At that time, I loved the Babysitter Club… and I was probably the only one reading in my class. As an end-of-the-year gift, the teacher bought Babysitter Club books for each girl in the class LOL, they weren’t very happy with me 😛
I just love to read… and it’s not just being transported into another world or escaping. It’s like getting to know different people, different places, different situations. I sometimes imagine myself in the book and what I would say to the heroine and hero, because sometimes, they’re just arghhh! LOL 😛
As for books buying, I suffer from the “I need this book NOW” syndrome. Which is why I’m wondering if I should wait for MtP to arrive to my house (it’s been shipped) or go to the bookstore where it says it’s available! LOL 😛
I rather buy books than underwear and even food.
I want to move into the library.
Reading for me puts me at ease and takes me away from the cruel world. When I was growing up, I was a bit on the eccentric side, so I didn’t have many friends. But the moment I found out how great it is to lose yourself in a story, my books became my friends and I am no longer lonely.
And because I love to read so much, I found such great people such as an author like Nalini and a blog such as Book Binge.
I bet your aunt is thinking she got the better end of that deal! That’s a great gift to get in the mail 🙂
I just adore books. My lifelong goal (ever since I saw Beauty and the Beast as a child) has been to have a library with floor to ceiling bookshelves covered in books.
It feels like I’ve always been reading. I know there must have been a time when I didn’t know how to read. but it seems like off in the distance…almost non existent. But I also come from a family who read to me all the time…
I was sort of anti-social as a child (and sometimes as an adult too) and so books became a way of life for me. They’re perhaps the closest thing we have to “magic,” in the real world.
~Casey
Azteclady – me too!
Allison – thanks for sharing your own reasons! I’m a curler-upper too 🙂
Nath – I do the same thing. I’m so desperate for something now that I’m fighting myself to go to the bookstore *grin* I hope you enjoy MtP!
Katie – I’m with you on finding new worlds and friends along with it. I’ve met so many great people through the book world. 🙂
Laura – I like to think so 😉
Casey – I have the same dream. I lust for a library. And if it has a cosy fireplace, oooooh….
Oh How I love reading I remember how our little school didn’t have an official library either, we use to have someone unlock cases in our school cafeteria so we could attend “library time” I loved it because the librarian would read us a story first to get us all interested then she would let us choose our books for checkout. Reading has enriched my life so much I don’t know how I would survive now without bookstores to feed my hunger for reading. LoL, Helen Gonzalez
Have a good one Nalini and thank you for putting up this great blog Book Binge
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