A Funny Story

He that loves reading has everything within his reach

~William Godwin~

I had the most interesting experience recently that left me wondering if I should shake my head in disgust at myself, laugh uproariously at myself or just chalk it up to a sign of the times.

I was so excited about not doing any work over the Christmas break; no academic reading, no tutorials and no regular trips to the office… WONDERFUL!! Just a few weeks to balance myself out, remind myself why I was fighting this fight, enjoy the little things, eat plenty and read for pleasure … hmmmm … there is a sound I want to make here but how do I describe it? It is accompanied by my eyes rolling into the back of my head, and is similar to that sound a woman makes when sinking her teeth into a chocolate when she really really needs it. I hope you can hear it now.

Reading used to be one of my favourite past times. There is something about sinking into someone else’s story when it is well written that is fantastic. I could get lost for hours in a book. I would get lost in that story and the images in my mind to accompany that story were so much better than TV for me. With books, you get to see the inner workings of the characters’ minds, not just see what they are experiencing or rely on their facial expressions. You get to read their thoughts, experience everything with them and despite the fact that television can still afford you this experience in its own way I was always more of a reader.  I am one of those persons who can read a book and burst out laughing, cry, and experience a world of emotions as the characters that I grow attached to do. There is just something about reading a good book. I think reading used to be one of the few things that would stop me from eating. Unheard of I know, but not for too long because the headache would stop me from reading so I would have to get up and eat with the book in my hand to prevent that.

Anyway a friend has lent me the Harry Potter series and I went home all excited about reading it from the beginning having read them all before (ages ago) and seeing what the connections were from book one to the final book. If there is one series of books I enjoyed it was this one; they had a definitive beginning and end, and were not just drawn out for being drawn out sake. I grew up with the characters (don’t mind they were younger than me) and it was pleasure to read something so fantastical but still very down to earth in its way.

So I set the scene; (lol) turned off the lights in the rest of the flat, checked the fridge door to make sure I had it closed, checked to make sure the oven and the central heating were off, lit my candles, turned off the bedroom light and cosied up in my bed and picked up the book, all anticipatory. Then I realised, wait a minute this is a real book not an e-book, there is no back light, I am not swiping pages here, I have to turn actual paper pages so I can’t see without the bedroom light. I think I burst out laughing at first thinking how stupid it was to do that and then I mulled it over and wondered “when last have I read a paper book?” I bought three books already for the season and read them all on my phone (twice). It was a little ridiculous but it was also just a little (I hope) stupid. I knew it was a real book, I knew I needed the light but I had just gone through my usual routine without really thinking about it and that included turning the bedroom light off. So the next question was, did I want to read this book enough to get out of the bed which was now a little warmer with me in it and turn on the light?

What a conundrum!!

Laughter is an instant vacation 

~Milton Berle~