So you've probably noticed a HUGE influx of book reviews lately. My weekends and nights seem to have been taken over by my love affair with reading. Since I started my PhD (the hardcore research portion anyways) I haven't read a book for pleasure. Don't mistake the not "reading for pleasure" with "not reading" because trust me...I've done a TON of reading, just not for fun. It helps when your "not fun" reading is on topics that interest you (like video games for me) but there's something about reading academic books that tends to zap the pleasure out of it and makes it seem more like work then leisure (let's not get started on the whole work/leisure dichotomy...that's a whole different blog topic). Over the 4th of July weekend I had a few days off of work and some time on my hands so I picked up Joe Hill's novel Horns and off we went. It was like discovering an old friend who you've missed dearly. You don't realize just how much you've missed them until you reconnect.
Reading for me is almost and obsession. It's most certainly a passion and as we all know passions can border on the obsessive. There certainly are worse things to be obsessive about. The worst part of my love for reading is that it collides with my love of collecting things so I'm all about buying books. My husband keeps telling me that my reading habit is going to put us in the poor house (he's joking...mostly) and that I should use our fantastic libraries. However, there's something about having shelf after shelf of books that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. One day, I dream of having a house that also has a library room (an entire wing would be better; one can dream). I want the old school kind with the vaulted ceilings and ladders to reach the highest selves of books. Add a nice over stuffed leather chair, a desk and a fireplace and I'd probably never come out.
This is probably why I've yet to purchase an e-reader. Don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely LOVE an e-reader. I've certainly had opportunities to buy one but I keep putting it lower and lower on the list of things to buy. It'd be an absolute savior to have while traveling. I tend to go through 3 or 4 books on a weekend trip, especially when flying, and well, books are heavy and to have to carry around 3 or 4...whew. But there's also that part of me that hates the idea of NOT having the tangible remains to later admire. I have only re-read a handful of books in my life so I'm not even going to fool myself into thinking I keep them around in case I want to reread them. I just love having them and with an e-reader it's hard to go back and admire your love made tangible. It's also why I hate the idea of video games going completely into the cloud...
So, it's a long way of apologizing for the numerous book review postings but also a warning that more are to come. If you're a reader you hopefully appreciate the reviews and if not, just keep checking back for the more video game focused, geeky ramblings that will appear.
