Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Confession Wednesday: Books That Kept Me Up All Night
My grandmother used to yell at me because my nose was always stuck in a book.
There's a commercial break during the TV show I'm watching? Perfect time to read a little bit.
Driving a few miles to the grocery store/beach/movie theater? I always brought a book along.
In 5th grade, it was the Baby-Sitters' Club series. By 7th, it was Christopher Pike and RL Stine. And then, in 10th grade, I discovered John Grisham.
He's still my favorite author.
Somewhere along the way, my avid reading dropped off. I honestly think it was my mission that did it. When I spent a year and a half with only scriptures and a few church books at my disposal, I found other things to occupy my mind. Reading became something I wanted to do, but never seemed to have much time for anymore.
I always made an exception for the latest John Grisham novel, though. Always.
And then, in the summer of 2001, a roommate thrust a book into my hands and insisted I HAD to read it right away. By the time I reached the end of the first chapter, I rushed out to buy all of the Harry Potter novels that were already in print. At that point, there were four.
I spent that summer getting acquainted with Harry and his friends, falling in love with the characters, the setting, the magic of it all. I stayed up late into the night reading because I just had to know what happened next. It had been years since a novel had that kind of effect on me. And I can't remember another series I loved as much.
The Harry Potter novels reignited my love of reading. After I finished them, I started finding other books. All kinds of books. And I found a few new favorites, discovered new authors, and started a book club with some friends.
(Last I heard, that book club still meets, even though most of the original members have since moved away.)
Despite my rediscovered hobby, nothing really grabbed me like Harry Potter did. I didn't find anything I theorized about, thought about, and even (as silly as it sounds) dreamed about. Twilight didn't do it for me. Dan Brown's novels had little effect.
And then I found the Hunger Games. I'll spare you, since I just wrote a whole post about them the other day. I have my copy of Mockingjay, sitting right beside me. In fact, the entire time I've been writing this post, I've just wanted to hurry up and tear into it. I read the first chapter while sitting in the Barnes and Noble parking lot.
I'm going to be up late tonight.
And I'm happy.
Because, despite how much I love books, it's so rare to find one I'm willing to lose sleep over.
I'm going to finish Mockingjay in a day or two. And then I'm going to need something else to steal my attention. So, what are some of the novels that have kept YOU up at night? Share in the comments or link your own posts below!
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"You know what they say. If you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me."
~Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias