Monday, July 19, 2010

MONDAY SANCTUARY: Curling Up With a Good Book

(NOTE: We have extended our Oasis For YA Gives Back contest until Friday. There's still time to enter and share the contest with your friends and followers!

I've always been an avid reader ... it's the biggest reason I wanted to be a writer! When I was in middle school, I can remember spending hours in the public library, running an index finger over the spines of YA books, looking for ones I hadn't already read. After I created a stack that I could hardly carry without being a professional juggler, we would check out and I'd devour at least one book on the drive home.



I read constantly, even when riding my bike home from school! I could definitely multi-task with a book in hand. And I re-read books constantly. I can envision my shelf of Sweet Valley High books, spines coursed with cracks. I'd come home from school, homework completed during class when I got bored, and choose one to read for the twentieth time.

Reading was an escape for me. I didn't have a particularly difficult life - divorced parents, no boyfriend, kind of a geek - but it wasn't a particularly interesting life either. I loved losing myself in a great book and was really drawn to Science Fiction (I still am!)

Nowadays it's much more difficult to find time to read. I have to fit it in with working, writing, and spending time with my family. I'm also more critical when I read a book, especially when I'm in edit mode for my manuscript. I am impatient, and constantly note the passive verbs, grammatical errors, and other errors as I read.

But when I find a good book, I'm immersed. I can't put it down. I push aside housework and read while I cook or the kids take a bath. I stay up late to finish it and then I reread the novel again, taking mental notes, and finding inspiration.

Inspiration. The way I got started writing in the first place ...

So tell me, what's a good book you couldn't put down recently?

5 comments:

  1. Thought I'd throw my books in the comments ... I just finished reading Linger, which was a beautifully written book that I couldn't put down toward the end.

    As for rereading, I could read the Harry Potter books ad nauseum, but most recently I love the Hunger Games series and continually get hooked with each read!

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  2. I second your comment Nikki about Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. I can't wait for Mockingjay!

    I have just started The Body Finder and it is Amazing! I love books that just pull you in from the beginning! Great Post!

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  3. I know Renae, I need to rent a hotel room for when I get Mockingjay so I can read uninterrupted! :)

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  4. I hate that I haven't had time to read much of anything but blogs, copy edits and research crap. Though there's a long list I want to get to. Soon. Really. I promise. Soon. Yeah.

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  5. It's been out awhile, but I fawned over Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. Very Twilight-like in its romance, but not Twilight in its story - if that makes any sense.
    Also really enjoyed White Cat by Holly Black.

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