simply janet

So in my last entry, I mentioned my renewed passion for reading — it’s still going strong. I’m on the sixth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) while I’m also reading The Blue Zones, a fascinating book about longevity. Although I purchased it to read on my Kindle, many of the other books I’ve been reading are from the bookstore or the library — places I’m going more now that I have a Kindle. Reading begets more reading (for me anyway) and leads to total absorption in subjects that interest me.

Although I acknowledge I have little control over how long I live, I’m interested in learning about what I can control in order to preserve the quality of life I would like to have, and I would like to do that in a balanced and holistic way. So far, I like what I’m reading.

Before everything else – knitting, crochet, blogging – my first passion was reading. I learned to read in 1969 while my family was living in Turkey. We didn’t have a television on the Air Force base where we lived, and our only entertainment consisted of live shows at the NCO club (few and far between) and radio. I listened to Mystery Theater at 4:00 p.m. on Sundays, but I was hard-pressed to find much else to do from week to week. My mom was always too busy — with the four of us girls (a toddler, a preschooler, one in junior high and one in high school) — to think of ways to occupy our time. I had to find and make my own entertainment and diversion. So when one of my older sisters taught me to read, I finally had a way to pass the time alone — and went from scribbling in books to actually reading them.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that after I became a reader, I was never lonely and I was never alone. I kept it up for a few dozen years until hobbies (and the internet) began to consume me and edge out reading as my favorite way to pass the time.

With all the upheaval the past couple of years have brought, I’m surprised I didn’t escape to reading sooner. When trouble came and uncertainty became the status quo, reading was and continues to be soothing and calming. I went from reading craft-related books to filling up on fiction and recently decided to read (and re-read) some well-known classics. So when Lolly posted about her summer reading adventure, I thought I would blog and echo some of the same sentiments she shared in her blog entry. Specifically, I am encouraging you to join Goodreads and discover how much fun it is to read and share with others. My blog sidebar on the right has a widget showing what I’ve read recently. Right now I’m reading through the Harry Potter series. It’s not available as a Kindle download, but I wouldn’t have purchased them through the Kindle if they were — my oldest son already owns all the books, so as I finish one of the books, he slips in to his book closet and hands me the next one. He’s a great resource for background information and Harry Potter trivia as I read. Thankfully, he doesn’t mind divulging a spoiler or two as I prod him for information while I read.

Find me on Goodreads and add me as a friend — I’d love to see what you’re reading too.