Recently, I
attended a reading by Tom Peek, author of the novel Daughters of Fire. As he
read, Tom exuded a quiet excitement, revealing the depth of his characters while
drawing his listeners into the action and adventure of a world he had created.
Most people
do not need a reason to read, only a justifiable reason to take time out of their
busy schedules to sit down, relax, and read. Stephen King, author of
innumerable books, all of which I have read (though maybe not the entire text of Danse Macabre), advocates
that writers should read at least four hours per day, the same amount of time
as they should write. When something becomes “should” however, the fun drains
away.
My three fun reasons for loving
to read
are what always keep me reaching for that next book
1. From the
time I started selecting my own reading material, books
have taken me to ‘another world’, that proverbial place where one is able to
travel without the expense of air fare, car rental, or 20% tipping. To
this day, I dream of taking a steamboat ride down the mighty Mississippi River.
During my first and subsequent readings of The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I smelled the fresh air while bobbing along
the rippling surface of the rapidly-flowing water, heard the incessant chirping
of birds under the willows, marveled at a catfish “big as a man”, watched furry-pelted
creatures scurry along the river bank. The morning breeze cooled me as it
tousled my short-cropped, river-washed hair.
2. In my
teen years, I read my way through the Sherlock Holmes cases of Arthur Conan
Doyle, Nero Wolfe’s investigations as penned by Rex Stout, and the court scenes
of Perry Mason by Erle Stanley Gardner. Finally, I exhausted the local library’s
supply of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Only years later
did I consciously come to the realization that I loved the “mystery series.” Each
story kept me reading, but I returned to the series, book after book, to read about the adventures of a particular person.
Even though the word ‘protagonist’ didn’t enter my spoken vocabulary until
years later, I loved revisiting my new-found friends within the pages of those
novels. These friends were often eccentric, loud, or “foreign”; they were knowledgeable
in their field of expertise; at times, they were confused or befuddled or even
angry; but always, they were exciting to read about and fun to know.
3. Robert
Ludlum’s novels changed my outlook on reading. Now my time was often spent
reading for sheer pleasure and entertainment.
I settled back while the story flowed over me, excited, tantalized, mesmerized,
enlightened, and enthralled me. Through the decades, I devoured: all of Stephen
King’s novels, stories painted exquisitely with descriptive phrases, especially
his Dark Tower series with Roland Deschain; Sue Grafton’s ABC mysteries; John
Sandford’s Prey series; Tess Gerittson’s medical thrillers; all of the works by
Michael Connelly, Mary Higgins Clark, Clive Cussler, Janet Evanovich, and JK
Rowlings. (Raise your hand if you enjoyed the parallels between the Lord of the
Rings, Dark Tower, and Harry Potter series.)
In summary, three of the
fun reasons I love to read include the desire to:
1. Venture into
an imaginative other-world;
2. Experience
the development of a unique, stimulating, sometimes humorous, always thought-provoking
personality from the perspective of its author, including protagonists Kinsey
Millhone, Lucas Davenport, Harry Potter, Dirk Pitt, Stephanie Plum, and Harry
Bosch;
3. And immerse
myself in the sheer pleasure and entertainment that lurks behind all those colorfully
illustrated and telling front covers.
