Oh the books.

I think this is going to be a pretty brief entry about the books I've been reading. That's the plan, anyway.

Reading is an interest that goes on and off for me. When I was very little I expressed no interest in books or the alphabet and my mom was concerned that I might have a learning disorder, but once I got into kindergarten I picked everything up just fine. It wasn't that I was bad at it, I just wasn't that interested in it. I think that has kind of stuck with me my whole life, until Harry Potter came along. The books absolutely spurred my interest in reading and I became ravenous, but only for Harry Potter books.

I would read the series over and over again, waiting for the next installment to be released. I still ready plenty for school: Hamlet, 1984, The Odyssey, Twelve Angry Men, Brave New World, and on and on. I enjoyed them too. I liked reading, but not enough to spend my free time on it. Free time was for friends and video games.

Three or four years ago I was given a book for Christmas that I had a lot of fun with: Kevin Smith's 'My Boring-Ass Life'. There was something about that book that ignited a reading frenzy in my head, and I went on a streak for over a year where I would start a book the same day that I finished one (just about, anyway). I plowed through autobiographies, historical fiction, fantasy, pre-teen novels, pretty much whatever was thrown my way.

Then someone threw a stick through my spokes by giving me a copy of Wicked to read. I hated that book so much. It brought my reading marathon to a screeching halt and I have had a hard time picking it up ever since. I reverted to re-reading Harry Potter and half-heartedly picking at new books. Serious bummer.

Andrew is a rabid reader. He was more than happy to recommend some titles for me, and he sent me off to Ireland with nine new books. They are a random assortment spanning multiple authors, but eight of the nine are fantasy novels. My favorite genre.

We decided that we'd like to have our own book club of sorts. You know, read along together and talk about what happens. So far we haven't done a very good job of keeping up with it, mostly because I have more leisure reading time than he does. I imagine that'll get sorted out once I'm there.

But anyway! The first book I ate was Night Mare by Piers Anthony. Absolutely fantastic. I am in love with this universe and I am absolutely delighted that there are multiple books in the series. Even happier is the fact that he gave me two novels in the series. I started and finished Castle Roogna within a few days of finishing Night Mare. I am stoked to read more books in the fantastic Xanth universe. It has to wait though, y'know, until I have more of them in my possession.

For now I'm going to start The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett. I believe I'm going to enjoy it very much. I anticipate finishing it before I leave on Friday, and then I'm going to start Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the plane. I've seen the movie but never read the book and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm very happy to be so pumped about books again.

-MJ

Posted in: books,castle roogna,fantasy,harry potter,hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy,night mare,piers anthony,reading,terry pratchett,the color of magic