i have an odd relationship with books. i remember in 3rd grade i was reading like 8 books at one time including these amongst others:
i could never tell you what was going on in any of the books. i never really read for comprehension. i just read words.
when i was a junior in high school i took the PSAT’s and failed miserably on the verbal/grammar/reading section and was almost perfect in the math section and therefore my parents had to hire a tutor to teach me vocab words and how to read a one page story and actually remember what it said. it sucked. i hated reading. i would be forced to do book reports and would wait until the night before to even start the book and then around 2:00 in the morning when i was half way through, i would attempt to write a report and once or twice i think i just made up my own ending to the book since i had no idea what really happened (hoping my teacher had never read that random agatha christy mystery that i found in the library).
and that’s why i quickly decided in college that i needed to get my bachelor of science degree (BS) rather than a bachelor of arts degree (BA), because a BA required more literature and language classes. i would rather take algebra, calculus, accounting, finance and statistics 5 days a week than die a slow and painful death of confusion and frustration in the “literature of the 1800’s” class.
so i don’t naturally gravitate towards books. i easily forget what i read. i lose interest quickly and fall asleep 2 pages into the chapter and then have to start over again the next day, so i typically don’t even bother.
until i moved to boston and started taking the train to and from work everyday and i started grabbing the newspaper on the seat next to me that someone left behind and realized that everyone is boston is so um… what’s the word? studious! everyone reads and they can probably read in five different languages or more. so i figured ”when in rome… do as the romans do”, right? but for me rome = boston at the time. so i started reading some books. i started with books that i had already seen the movie of (which, come to find out is kind of the backwards way to do it), but since i already had a basic understanding of the plot, it was easier for me to follow along. and i was reading about a book every two weeks with all the extra time i had on the train. and i loved it! and i felt smart!
well that was 3 years ago and i haven’t really read much since. not sure why, just wasn’t interested. but i have had a lot of time to myself recently and instead of drowning my life in reality tv shows (which i still do more than i should) i got some suggestions for books and started reading again. some books are just strange, twisted and/or very odd, but sometimes entertaining at the same time. i’m not into fantasy books (i’m the same way with movies) - so no harry potter or twilight for me. i want stories about real life (even if it was a made up real life). so here’s what i’ve read recently from suggestions by friends:
a pretty good book. a different perspective on heaven. short and a tear-jerker in parts.
an interesting story about a traveling circus train during the great depression. definitely graphic in parts that i needed to skip ahead on, but overall, i enjoyed it.
i’m currently in the first 1/3 of this book and loving it! i’ve heard mixed reviews about it – some people loving it and some people totally hating it and putting it down after five pages. so far i’m totally enjoying her style of writing and wit.
recommendations welcomed.
1 Comment
October 23, 2009 at 5:58 pm
The glass castle. I had it…not sure where it went.