Why Do I Read So Much?

Clyde asked me the other day why I loved to read so much. It kind of threw me. I had never thought about it before. I said because my parents read. But it is more than that. I have read for several hours every day for most of my life - since I first realized I could read a chapter book. Once I realized I could get through a book like that, nothing was going to stop me. I am a bit like the young girl in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" who was going to work her way through the library from A-Z. When I was 8 that was my goal - read every book in the school library from A-Z. But a horrible truth was forced on me. I could only check out 2 books a week! So I decided to read all of the biographies from A-Z instead. By the time we moved from that school I had read most of the biographies plus the required reading from the library. I had fallen in love with books about the Civil and Revolutionary Wars. What I really loved were the dress styles - the long dresses and full skirs with the fancy hats.

Jump ahead to Washington DC - where we spent the next two years. Every chance my father got, we went to a battlefield of the Civil War. It didn't register until later that this was the Centennial of the Civil War during our stay there - so quite frequently we were there for the 100th anniversary celebrations. I kind of lost my zeal for Civil War novels about this time and switched to pioneer books. This is when I fell in love with my most favorite book ever, "Mrs. Mike". This book has everything a good book should have in it. In my opinion a good book should run you through all the emotions: love, happiness, anger sadness. "Mrs. Mike" has never disappointed me.

I don't think I read to escape. I hope not because more often than not I read mysteries. If I am reading them to escape - I apparently would want to escape into a world of murder and mayhem. I know I don't want that. I do find myself more and more gravitating towards books about the South - especially Texas. I love reading about the warmth and hospitality of the Southern people. The other day I read a book and they were traveling down I-35 through Seguin, describing landmarks and the bluebonnets. I actually cried as I read that because I knew right where they were. That area was home for a long time.

I read all kinds of books. I change my genre's about as often as I change my clothes. It is interesting to me that I tend to go through spurts. I tend to read more fantasy and fairy tales in the winter. I read more mysteries in the fall and spring and novels and biographies in the summer. I didn't realize this until I started looking back in my journals. I would be curious to read my Tuesday Book Review to see if that still holds true or not.