To Read or Not To Read

Nov. 21 - Today I am thankful for...

Books.

I guess I could say that I'm thankful for literature in all of its forms, but I'm particularly fond of books. 

I've always been a reader. I grew up being read to, and eventually doing some of the reading myself. In second grade, I was reading aloud with my mom and she asked me to re-read a word. I didn't want to, because I knew what she wanted to hear. I had a speech impediment. When you make an "s" sound, your lips purse a little and air comes straight out from between your teeth, right? (Go ahead. Try it out.) Well, when I made an "s" sound, my tongue kind of took up the front of my mouth and the air came out both sides of my mouth. I sounded kind of like Sylvester, but with much less slobber.

That incident actually lead to me getting involved in speech therapy at school, which I thought would be terrible, but was actually pretty awesome. In third and fourth grade, I got pulled out of class for appointments with Dr. Scott, who was probably the nicest therapist I could have had. I got to play computer games and sometimes had sessions with other students. No trace of it these days, so it definitely paid off. And if I hadn't been reading aloud with my mom, who knows when it would've been caught.

Anywhoozles, that totally wasn't the point of this post. Moving on.

I love to read. Movies and video games are great, but if I truly want to escape, all I need is a good book and a quiet room. I can visit places, meet people, and experience things without leaving my house, and when I want to visit again, all I have to do is pick the book back up and read some more. It's a magical concept if you think about it.

I'm one of those people who won't get a Kindle because I like the smell of a new book and the feel of an old one. I have a habit of re-reading books; I've read my favorite book from my teen years at least 6 times, and I've read The Princess Bride (the abridged version) 4 or 5 times. Take me to a book store and I can spend all day (and a TON of money) there. Few things make me as happy as getting a new book to read. And for that, I'm very thankful. :)