reading

and reading and reading and reading.  I am never without a novel on the go.  In fact I cannot go to sleep without reading for at least half an hour.  Even when I had small newborn babies I needed to read.  I am fairly indiscriminate in my reading - although lately I have been reading a lot more 'literature'.  When I am reading I can shut out everything else and live in the world of the author.  Which is kind of weird for an extrovert like me.

Even though I have been reading all my life - and I cannot remember a time when I have not read - it is only in the last year I have joined not one but two bookclubs. 

The first one is with two dear schoolfriends - one lives in Armidale and the other in China.  We skype every month and take turns setting the book to read.  I have introduced gothic historical novels and weird fables - I have been encouraged to read Dickens and Tolstoy and Booker Prize winners.  I have discovered books I would never have picked up on my own accord, and shared my love of a particular novel with the other two.  Whether we love or hate characters, what we think the relationships mean, how does the setting impact the story, what did that plot point mean.  It is a wonderful high point of my month - and I hope we can continue it until we are elderly even though we do not live in the same city.

The second bookclub I almost accidentally joined - a lovely group of ladies from church.  One of them chooses a Christian book to read and then we have excellent brunch and discuss it.  I have never been one to read a lot of Christian books - well, they are not fictional novels - but this experience has been really eye-opening and interesting.  I have read books I never would have read on my own, and it is wonderful to have a shared reading experience to discuss.

I read so fast sometimes it is like I get the gist of a paragraph and keep going.  Chris reads every word and takes it in slowly - I swallow the sentences and swim through the pages.  It is like I read what is in front of me and what is to come at the same time - the same way that I read music.  I play the notes now and also know the notes that are coming. When I read I make pictures in my mind of the characters, the place, the time - it is probably why I enjoy well written fiction so much.  I get disturbed when poor writing distracts from the advancement of the story - when I can't just read it.  I want to read the story not the words.

My favourite authors at the moment are:
Alexander McCall Smith - not least because he is super prolific and there is often a new one at the library that I haven't read.  His books make me feel calm and moral, with characters I want to know.
Elizabeth Berg - smalltown American author - great characterisations and themes
Phillipa Gregory - who doesn't love a historical romance royal drama based on some real facts
Diana Gabaldon - who doesn't love a historical romance royal drama based on some real facts
Dickens - LOVED Little Dorrit - who knew!
Susan Howatch - psychological analysis like we all need based with English clergymen - intriging

and so many more....