Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Confession of a Bookworm




"My wealth is not possession but enjoyment".
Henry David Thoreau

There is something I need to tell you about myself: I have an addiction. A healthy one, but addiction. Addiction to books, specifically to fiction books. I can't tell you when it all started, but I remember my parents watching me: turning lights off and making sure I don't have a flashlight under my bed to keep reading after the light was switched off. 
I also remember my dad bringing home a four volume book  Le Juif Errant by Marie Joseph Eugene Sue, which I neatly placed on my night stand. 
"Why did you keep all those books on your nightstand?"- my dad asked me later that day.
"I am going to read it",- was my natural respond.
"You are not going to read all of it soon, so why don't you keep one volume on your nightstand, and put the rest on the shelf?" - said my neat dad to me.
"I don't want to get up in the middle of the night, and go to another room to switch volumes",- I replied.
"Yes" - was dad's answer with an expression of a big doubt.


That time I just came to my parents home for a summer vacation, and all I wanted was to take it easy after a whole month of tests and finals. I wanted to stay away from any academic textbooks, and immerse myself into an easy reading to clear up my mind (to clean my "hard drive" as I call it). 
For  a whole week I hardly left my room while I was reading this fascinating story day and night. By the end of the week, on Saturday morning, I closed the fourth volume of the book, and came into the new day all refreshed and quite happy (although the book didn't end on a happy note). My dad couldn't believe it: "Have you swallowed those thousand pages?" was his rhetorical question. 
When we had our morning coffee, he said: "Let me fill you in of what had happened in the last week... You definitely were in another century..." And he went on telling me all about local news.
My reading "escape" was a much needed therapeutic, healing, and mind cleaning task. But I also understood something about myself: when my hands hold a fiction book, my mind receives a "vacation" signal. Which means I am going to read a fiction book until I am through. For that reason I try to restrain myself from buying fiction books. I also keep myself away from fiction section in the library. 


But last Saturday a fiction book did slip into my bag and was checked out. From it's title: Recipes and Wooden Spoons (by Judy Baer), I thought I was checking out just one more recipe book. On Sunday night I took the book out of the bag to see what recipes are there, and was surprised not to see many. Then I started to read it to find out why there were only few recipes. Oh, boy! Good thing next Monday was a day off at school and I didn't have to get up early. 
Once again, I was immersed into a life of Grace Chapel Inn and a charming village of Acorn Hill in rural Pennsylvania. After I closed the book, I though: there was a reason this book slipped into my library bag. I needed a good story to read, I needed to refuel my brain, and my soul with a dose of goodness. The book made me feel really good, uplifted, joyful. My "battery" of life was once again charged. 
This book made me grateful for who I am, and what I have. 

See you,
Marina

24 comments:

  1. How interesting. I always loved to read but no one else in my family did. So they would all sit in the family room and watch TV in the evenings and I would sit on my bed and read. I loved to walk to the library and I still love the feeling of a big bag of books from the library. You never know what you have or where it will take you! I'll put this book on my list to read! Hugs!

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  2. I too have an addiction to books... all sorts of books actually but espacialy fiction, cooking and baking books!

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  3. I love reading..
    I liked this entry and your photos..I will refer back here for that book title one day:-)

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  4. That sounds like a delightful book! I love to read also and was nicknamed "the bookworm" when I was growing up. Now my obsession is cookbooks and food magazines, my husband always teases me that I read cookbooks like normal people read novels!

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  5. I read everything! Mainly nonfiction these days, although I greatly enjoy 19th century English literature. And of course cookbooks and blogs. ;-) Fun post, nice photos - thanks.

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  6. I love how books can transport you to other places! I look reading too although I have to try and make time to do it nowadays!

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  7. What a wonderful, delightful post, Marina. I didn't know you love to read. I love books. Love libraries and book stores. People that don't like to read do not know what they are missing : )

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  8. I love reading too! What a great story and beautiful pictures!

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  9. Books are so wonderful. I used to tell kids that one can sit in a comfy chair in the library and travel the world without leaving the library. I think some of the kids looked at me as if I was nuts.

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  10. I was thinking a lot regarding this topic, so thanks for bringing it up here. You certainly have a good writing style i like, so will be subscribing to your blog.

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  11. I read your post with a big smile on my face
    I know EXACTLY what you are talking about and love the term "clean my hard drive"
    I call it "losing myself" in a book but it is more like "finding myself"
    I love fiction too and lately read the hunger games books in 3 days, my husband had the same reaction your dad did :)

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  12. No shame in being a huge fiction junkie! The one thing that does get me occasionally bummed out about really reading lit for a living is that there are so many things that "need" to be read, and so little time for so much more that I really really want to read--but of course, I always try to make time. Enjoy it!

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  13. Marina, I live in Pennsylvania, in small historic town, very interesting place, like from the books-) I love to read also, and I try to teach my kids to spend more time with books, so I hear every word you are saying here. I love the berry photo! I wish for a spring-)

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  14. One of the few things I dislike about food blogging, is that it cuts into my reading time! Happy to know you have found the right balance...I need to do the same!

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  15. Reading is a great way to recharge your batteries. As Lizzy has mentioned reading many other posts does cut into your reading time but too much time on the computer screen is bad for you. I love to unwind and read before bed, even if it is just for a few minutes. Do you belong to a book club? I love those close up pictures they are so delicate and post card worthy. Take Care, BAM

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  16. Marina, it's great that you're a reader too! I always have been since I was a little kid. Then later, my mom would have a fit because I was reading instead of helping her clean, etc. I am deeply into fiction and reading Peter Robinson's latest book in the Alan Banks series now, even though I read cookbooks like a novel and love autobiographies, etc. I love books, libraries and could browse around book stores forever!!! Happy reading, my friend!

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  17. reading is truly a very healthy addiction. i used to love reading until i discovered cake decorating...heheh. now, i have a new hobby and ready fiction has taken a backseat ;)

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  18. A very very healthy addiction my friend (though if teamed with chocolate chip cookie obsession, it is not the best :P)
    Your addiction truly sounds like a love :)
    I share it with you!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

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  20. Reading can give such a great pleasure. I enjoyed this post Marina and loved your photos too X

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  21. Oh I was the same as a child, I used to hide under the blankets and read with a torch. I get so engrossed in the characters that I almost feel as if they are my friends, I am always devastated when good book ends because I have to say goodbye to the characters.

    ...your addiction is shared ;)

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  22. I, too, have always loved reading. As a boy, a friend and I spent many a Saturday at the library. And today, a great afternoon is one spent in a bookstore.

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  23. Marina, I have always thought that reading is so vital as water or food in order to survive, not an addiction! I wouldn't fall asleep if I didn't have a pile of books on my bed table. Unfortunately I don't go to libraries but I buy buy and buy... I started to buy second-hand books (partly at least), but it doesn't solve the space problem: I cannot get rid of the books I have enjoyed and appreciated... I also love reading cookery books or food-related so I will look for the one you have mentioned. (Have you ever read The Egg and I (by Betty MacDonald) and the whole series? (it's the first in a 3 or 4 book series). I have greatly enjoyed it.

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  24. These days I love going to the library with my children who love reading! Lately I found out that my 6 yo son is a very fast reader (I thought he's just flipping pages without reading) and he loves reading, and I feel blessed as I am a very slow reader who still likes to read books. :) I hope that he will gain lots of knowledge from reading books. I'm enjoying reading books with my 4 yo daughter who started to read on her own. It's such an amazing process how people start reading! :)

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Your warm comments put a smile on my heart.