I once met a man who didn't read

If you don't like to read books (without pictures or drawings of any kind) then please do not be offended by the following blog. I appreciate that not everyone likes to spend their free time reading. But i do. This is my blog. My stories.

so on we go....

I once met a guy who asked me why i bothered to waste my time by reading. To say i was lost for words is the understatement. I love to read. I read all the time. I ALWAYS carry a book in my handbag. I will read in queues, at the doctors, lunch time. I even took a book to a wedding once (in my defense let me just say that i just knew how the night was going to go so wanted to be prepared. i was).

What was especially staggering was the exchange between me and said man occured on a long, long ocean voyage. I thought this was precisely the right time and place to be reading. Particularly those long boring books which you can get distracted from easily but read because they are good for you. I probably had, like, a dozen books.

Now this man was intelligent, successful and rich (not to mention more than a little to my liking). That is why i didn't immediately shout him down for casting aspersions upon my books and my habit of reading them willy-nilly! It did make me think about why i read and what i read.

In read for entertainment and/or information. I don't learn terribly well from auditory methods. Nearly everything i learnt i have taught myself. From reading and then application. Call it a disability if you will. Luckily i DO learn from practical experience although from the number of burn marks on my hands, and my age, not all lessons sink in.

[It is also why i don't drive. seriously. i forget that i am the one driving the car or how it works HALF WAY through a journey. Distressing for all concerned *grin*]

I keep pile of books by my bed. The current pile is a mixture:

• I know you got soul, clarkson
• Cover her face, P.D. James
• The Book of Animal Ignorance, Mitchinson & Lloyd
• Edison's Eve, Gaby Wood
• The Raphael Trial, Joanna Pitman
• Almost Perfect (torchwood),James Goss
• psych (novel from TV), william Rabkin
• The Secret Life of words, Henry Hitchings

I can type the titles 'cause i am sitting on my bed to do this blog. To be fair the last entry is the book i read when i really need to get to sleep. I have wide reaching and eclectic tastes. I read fast and re-read at least twice before a book stays in my library of treasured books.

One thing i am not doing, i think, is wasting my time.

Maybe this is why i am still single. Less reading and more boyfriend charming. Screw that. I like to read. Take me as i am (or not)

parting note:

i really wish books weren't so expensive in Australia. I wont say anymore cause i really do not understand the argument for publishing rights at all. The thing is that you usually have to buy the book to find out if you like it (it is not like they offer your money back if your not satisfied!). I know that the authors deserve the money (trust me with my own writing less than stellar i have utter admiration for writers) and without them i would be totally bereft.

and i wish the man had been a reader. he was my dream man otherwise :)