Addiction

I faced a hard truth today. I am an addict. Luckily my vice is not alcohol or drugs (and certainly not exercise!) but it is one that effects my life just the same. I am an addicted, compulsive reader.

I finished Under the Dome today at 11:00 a.m. By my estimation I read just over 700 pages in two days. That's a lot, and while I was reading there was a lot of other things that were not getting done (although you'll be relived to know that I both finished cleaning the couch and saw my grandpa today so you don't have to read about that for a while!) This isn't the first time that I've gone on a marathon reading session, either. The last three Harry Potter books? Read them the day that I got them. The Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse books? I call them crackbooks because I get into them and have a hard time putting them down. It sounds ridiculous, but it really is a compulsion for me. Every time I think "I'll quit reading after this chapter" I find a reason to go on for "just one more." Luckily I was at least able to go on my bender over the weekend and while the kids were gone, although I will say that it's significantly less embarrassing to have the kids catch me with a book in my hand than it would be a beer or some other recreational pharmaceutical....

I feel compelled to add that I do read some "real" books too - so far I've slogged through On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Catcher in the Rye, along with some other classics. Although Fahrenheit 451 was not too bad, the others I kept reading mostly just so I could say that I had read them. I think I'm getting to old to read books that I'm not into just so I can say that I have read them, but on the other hand I feel like I should participate in the collective human experience that is reading these classic books. I have a couple more classics that I have on my reading list for this year, including Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, but beyond that I may try to limit myself to catching up on 1-2 of the classics that I've missed every year.