The Best Book I Ever Read

I know that I mentioned my favourite things on this blog once before, so you won’t be surprised when you are subjected to copious posts about spray painting or cooking, and of course the numerous picture of Mimi.  Of all of the “things” (family and friends excluded) that I love, my favourite is without a doubt reading. 

I read anything I can get my hands on.  I read murder mysteries, chick lit, the classics, non-fiction, cookbooks, the back of shampoo bottles while in the shower, cereal boxes on the kitchen counter. No joke.

From the time I was a little girl, finding a good book was always the most amazing experience for me.  My mom would tease me every time I finished a book because I would say, without fail, “that was the best book I’ve ever read!”  Of course, two days later when I finished my next book, it quickly became “the best”.

My favourites as a child were Nancy Drew books.  I own 178 of them.  That’s right “own” as in, present tense.  I can’t bear to part with books.  I can still remember picking up my first Nancy Drew book at my Grandpa Pam's house when we were visiting him one summer.  The yellow cover, the way the book smelled kind of musty, but in that good, old, library kind of way.  The first page had me hooked.  She was 17, had strawberry blonde hair (I was envious), and drove around River Heights in her roadster solving crimes.  What’s not to love?

It was so easy to get lost in a good book and forget about the outside world for a few hours.  As I got older, the books I read changed (though I will still read Nancy Drew to this day), but my love of reading didn’t.  The way some people escape into TV or movies, I escape into a book.  A good book makes you feel like you really are a part of what’s going on in it, and when you put it down and go on with your “real” life you feel like something is missing.  Like the characters are real friends, or enemies, and somehow them not being there is strange. 

Never in my life have I not been reading a book – that is of course, until the last year of my life.  Somewhere along the way, I forgot about how reading makes me feel.  It’s like free therapy.  I read a book, and I smile, I laugh, I cry.  When I put it down, sometimes I reflect on my own life, and other times I just feel happy for having been able to read an exceptionally good story. 

The last few weeks I have been reading voraciously, and it’s amazing what it has done for my mood.  Spare time hasn’t been spent watching TV like it had been for quite a few months, instead it has been spent enjoying my escape – reading.

Do you read much? Do you have any favourite books, or authors? I’d like to say that I do, but remember that they’re all my favourites!  My next book post I’m going to post a list of a few of the authors and books I’ve been enjoying lately, but would love some suggestions!