I’ve always been a voracious reader. I love to read. My parents read to me every night before bed until i could read all by myself and then i read every night before bed until i was in late high school and college. i read everything i could get my hands on. i read every nancy drew book my mom had before i was in 5th grade. i read my dad’s medical books. reader’s digest, sewing books, the bible…anything. i loved to read and loved to fall in love with characters and places that weren’t real. i also loved the ability to learn so much in such a short time. (oh did i mention i’m a super fast reader too) my dad taught me never to mark up a book or fold the pages down, he would’ve preferred me to not break the spine. while in college, my feelings towards books changed, in that i needed to highlight, write in the margins, bend the book backwards. no longer were they precious things, but part of me.
i am still in love with books. bookstores and libraries are my heaven. i can easily spend hours in either one, reading, searching for the best book. i loved the smell of old books, the crispness of new pages. i love the excitement when a book is so good that sleep is not a barrier and the feeling when you finish a book but immediately want to pick it up again and re-read it. there are so many books that i’ve read so many times. some of my favorites and most loved are: 1984, franny and zooey, girl, interrupted, and wicked. (those are the ones that come to mind immediately) but i’ve read so many of my books so many times.
today, i am grateful for my love of books and my literacy. without it i probably wouldn’t know half as much as i do and wouldn’t have travelled as far in my own imagination.
lizzie fortin 