For the Love of Reading . . .

Any bookworm will have a list of the things they love most about reading. Fanatic Avid readers who take the love of reading to the next level (to consume their identity and (if they are lucky) become their bread and butter) will easily jabber on for hours testing the patience of anyone but a fellow book lover soulmate.

The Escape

I have always fallen head first into story worlds which I find far easier to navigate than real life. I recall three-day-long annual treks to my grandparents’ home near the beach where despite the distractions amazing views I spent every day on the road wrapped up in a book (or six). Packing for holidays meant trying to fit in enough books to ensure I was never without another world to escape to. Painfully shy, the books played the additional role of protecting me from unwelcome conversations.

The Covers

Shallow? Maybe. But I’m the first to admit that the cover determines which books I add to my reading list. I know it’s subjective and that there are many great books with unfortunate covers that I have probably missed, but I have judged the book long before I’ve seen the title, the author or possible content. Unless bribed strongly encouraged books are immediately assigned a category somewhere between hell yes and never.

The Ritual

Before eBooks ruined my life made themselves so useful, I followed a personal a bookish ritual every time I started a new book. Every new (to me) book was held like a precious gem while I admired its cover, contemplated the thickness of the spine, stroked the crisp pages, breathed in the new book smell of ink and paper and read the blurb. The anticipation of the treasure within heightened by the wait.

First Lines

Sometimes, if you’re lucky you’ll find a book that you know is going to be great from the very first few lines. The joy of finding such a treasure where the author seems to be talking directly to you is exceptionally rare. Living between Southern Africa and South East Asia the opportunities to attend bookish events are few and far between. This is probably fortunate for authors with whom I have felt such connection as they’d probably run wailing to the hills in response to my enthusiastic ambushing barely contained fandom.

Browsing

If you have never wasted spent time amongst the books lining the shelves of a library or bookstore (virtual or physical) then you’ve never experienced the bittersweet joy of possibilities. You know you’ll never live long enough to read all the books you want to and you have no idea how to choose which will be next but you find yourself greedily drooling in the anticipation of devouring as many as you can!

Sharing 

My heart sings every time I see someone lost in a book. Wanting to find out what they are reading and wallow in the pleasure of discussing books with other bookish people, I have a hard time stopping myself from intruding. If you catch me staring, please put me out of my misery and initiate a bookish conversation!

Characters

Sometimes, if you’re very lucky you’ll come across a character that will jump out of the pages and into your heart. You’ll know straight away that carrying them with you will forever change how you see the world. For me these characters are rare and so precious I am reluctant to share in case you tell me they meant nothing to you… Don’t read on unless you can agree or keep silent! Park, Verity, Lily, Cath, Zuzana

Fantasy Story Worlds

The pleasure that 3comes immersing yourself into a well-constructed story world where life is far from reality but makes perfect sense within the world itself is something that is exceptionally difficult to put into words. These are worlds that you can easily lose time in. Think Narnia or Middle-Earth.

Titles

I love when I discover within the story the reason a particular title is chosen and of course without titles we wouldn’t have fun constructing book spine poetry.

I know I am not alone in smothering myself with printed pages, what are your bookish pleasures?

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish at http://www.brokeandbookish.com/p/top-ten-tuesday-other-features.html