In Others’ Words: For the Love of Reading

“I don’t want to write a blog post. I want to read a book.”

That’s what I said to my husband last night … right before I set my book aside and started working on this blog post. And that little bit of complaining sparked the theme of today’s blog: books and the love of reading.

I’ve always loved to read books, but oddly enough, my writing career has wrecked my reading habit. Back to back deadlines interrupt your reading schedule. Oh, sure, I still read books, but I wouldn’t call it “pleasure” reading.

Reading and re-readinng my own manuscripts doesn’t count as fun reading. That’s work, pure and simple.
Reading for endorsement? Well, that can be fun, but there’s a certain element of work there too, as I’m always thinking about how I want to word my written recommendation of another author’s novel.
Reading a book when I’m judging it for a contest? Yeah, that’s not pleasure reading either — and I know most other authors will agree with me on this.

As a writer, I need to fight to find time for pleasure reading. To discover new favorite authors. To treasure the books I’ve read over and over again because the authors wrote in such a compelling way that the emotion of the story embedded itself deep into my heart. The fictional characters seemed so real that I thought about them after I closed the book.

The book I set aside to write this blog? It’s Georgette Heyer’s The Talisman Ring, a Regency romance I’ve read dozens of times since high school. Pure pleasure reading.

In Your Words: What book have you enjoyed reading more than once? Who are some of your favorite authors? We’re all busy — how do you fit pleasure reading into your schedule?

In Others’ Words: For the Love of Reading #InOthersWords #lifequotes #books
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“I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.” #CSLewis #amreading
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