Reading

 As a child I struggled with reading. I remember reading in partners in grade one. We each had to read a simple book to the other person. I picked the same book as my partner, and had them read first, so that I would know the story. In grade two I started to be home-schooled. I remember sitting down with my mom to read chapters of Little house in the big woods,and the other books in the series. I enjoyed the story, but I dreaded the reading. I did enjoy the Berenstain Bear books (the little ones with four words on each page), not so much for content, but because I could read them by myself.

I remember when I realized that there were books out there that I could really enjoy reading and become absorbed into. In the mid-late 90s my brother got Star Wars on VHS, and in 1999 Episode came out. I loved this particular fandom/genre. I decorated my room to look like space, the games that I played were based on Star Wars, and I coveted the great toy lightsaber. This same brother grew out of a series of books, and gave me the Jedi Apprentice series.

These books were easy to read. They were short-ish, had simple language,  lots of action, and they had characters who I already knew and loved. I've read them over and over. They are still sitting on my bookshelf, warn edges, stains, and tape along the spines. These were my steppingstones into the world of reading.

Around the year 2000 the big bookstore Chapters opened in my home town, and as far as I remember, it was on one of our first trips there that my other brother discovered the Harry Potter books. Neither one of us were big readers, but we powered through the (then two) books quickly, and the third when it was released. I was so interested that I didn't even think twice about tackling the around 700 pages of book four, and the final book took me less than two days to read.

In grade eight, my English teacher (a long term sub) gave us "free reading" time. I didn't have a new book at the time, so I picked up my oldest brother's copy of The Lord of the Rings. For the next couple of months, those books barely left my side. I found it easy to be transported into Middle Earth, and when I finished it I had a "what now" moment.

I went to Chapter in order to find another book for "free reading" time, and I found it. Right up front, on the new releases table, I saw it. Star Wars: Star by Star. A Star Wars book for grown-ups had been my dream. As I read it, it seemed a little out of context, but that didn't matter. It was Star Wars. After I finished, I wanted to know if there was more. I was shocked to see that there was a whole series. An entire bookcase in Chapters dedicated to Star Wars, and my book had been the latest release. My feelings of foolishness were overshadowed by the thought that I had YEARS of Star Wars books to read. It took me through high-school to read this series. I had a small group of equally geeky classmates who used my collection as a library. They are still adding onto the series, but my interests changed. University, and life got in the way, and I was spending less and less time reading. I read text books, and online, but not many tangible, solid, books.

This past summer I decided to get back to reading for enjoyment. I perused the book store, and have picked up a fair number of books. This blog is to reflect on what I am reading.