Sweet Surrender

No, I didn't give in and spend the week at the bottom of a bag of cookies or elbow deep in a tub of ice cream.  Not that that wouldn't have been a perfectly lovely way to spend time.  Until the scale reared its ugly head of course.  The sweet surrender I'm talking about here refers to one of my life's greatest passions -- reading.  I know, I just lost a bunch of you.  Reading? Like, seriously?  Like, yeah.  I bet a lot more of you get that than don't.

So big whoop you're probably thinking.  And yeah really, big whoop, I read a book.  But ya wanna know how I typically read?  There's the obligatory get in bed and read a bit before -- or while -- falling asleep.  Not very satisfying when you have to go back and reread what you read while dozing off.  But my main reading comes as reward.  If I clean the bathroom, I can read for 15 minutes or x number of chapters, whichever comes first.  Walk the dog. Read a chapter.  Run errands.  Read until I finish eating lunch.  I dole it out in bite size little chunks.  I'm like Pavlov's dog -- I start salivating when my chore is done.

But this week?  Oh, this week was glorious.  I had in my hot little hands, Finders Keepers, the second of a Stephen King trilogy.  And y'all know how I feel about Steve.  There was no way I was going to fit Steve in between weeding the veggie garden and hanging the laundry on the line.  Nope, no way, no how.  I gave Steve four solid afternoons of doing nothing but reading.  Morning was for dog walking, working out, and whatever else had to be done.  But the afternoons were for me and Steve, guilt free.

And we had a fabulous time together.  Met some new friends, was reacquainted with old ones from Mr. Mercedes.  All of my expectations were met.  Steve's thrillers are every bit as good as his horror novels and definitely better than some.  The only negative?  They end.  I get the book, want to devour it totally, then have to sit back while withdrawal sets in after it's over. Sigh...

My single best reading experience ever?  July 21, 2007.  I was at the store at 8:00 a.m. to pick up my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I opted not to go to the bookstore at midnight to buy it knowing I wouldn't be able to not read it, and I didn't want the aforementioned fall asleep while reading situation to mar the experience.  On the way home I picked up coffee and donuts from Timmy's and then I literally spent the next 15 hours reading. My mother even made dinner for me and delivered it to my house so I wouldn't have to stop to feed myself.  No, I didn't get it finished in that first day.  It took the next morning as well.  But there was something about the luxury of allowing myself to read it uninterrupted that has stayed with me ever since.

The simple pleasures of life don't get any simpler than that.


Book Review:  The only thing I'll add about Finders Keepers is this -- you definitely have to read Mr. Mercedes first.