B is for Books

Now, me being me, did you really expect B to go along with anything else? I considered beer, but have not been drinking or enjoying much of that lately. So I stick with books. Yeah Books!

If you are new to my blog, or do not know me personally, you might not have already known about this complete love affair with books. New books, old books, good books, better books. The classics, the kid books, the teen books, the adult fiction. I love the classics, urban fantasy, high fantasy, paranormal anything,romance, mysteries... there really is not a genre that I have not found at least one book within that I could appreciate.

I was reading at a very young age, and reading well above my age throughout my childhood. I have fond memories of many books, some funny stories, and just a list of read books that is large enough that I am afraid to actually sit down and try to figure it out for the record. My family helped instill my love of books in me. I would read at school, in bed, instead of watching television, while watching television, in a moving car, and just about anywhere I could get away with it. My mother, grandmother and other family members used to pass along large paper bags full of books to share. Mostly paperback, mostly romance, mostly inappropriate for me at ten through fourteen. But that did not stop me, I was reading some really steamy romance novels at a young age.

I remember one high school English teacher would hold onto whatever I was reading during class to be sure I was focused on the class rather than the book in my bag. I will never forget the day he started reading my book of the day during a test, not an unusual event, and telling me that there was a word he did not know in the book. He refused to tell me what word was beyond him. I still remember the basics of the book, but not the title. I was a western romance where the hero mistakes a girl named Jan for a boy, and she goes along with the mistaken identity to protect herself. I can still picture the cover. I remember a lot of plots and subplots from many a romance that I read in those years. But I can not remember what I ate today. Is that wrong? Do other people still remember these sorts of things well after important moments of life have faded from memory?

I love my books, my stories, the escape from reality that books offer. I can read anything, heck if I get desperate I read packaging and instructions just to occupy my mind. Those little tid bits do not stay in my head like romance plots though. I do avoid stories that are too close to home. Since I have small children I will often skip a story that might include danger or harm to young children as part of the plot. Biographies, memoirs and other non fiction that focus on pain or atrocities tend to get passed over by me as well. I figure life is scary and painful enough, I do not need to add to it by reading about things that will get me upset. However, I love the vampire and paranormal and the spooky. Even the too realistic for me to shut that light off spooky. Yeah, this book girl is odd. I admit it.

This love of all things book is why I find it sad that last week I was reminded that many of the books that have found their way into my permanent collection are still in boxes. It is just sad. I have around six large boxes of books desperate for homes on bookshelves. I need to buy or build bookcases to house these sad orphaned books. Some will find themselves given away to other homes and some will eventually have a real home here. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Now, you might wonder how this happened. Especially since I love books so much. In 2010 my Mother in law became very ill, putting into motion our grand plan to move to a new house to allow my in laws to move into the home we were renting from them, which would allow for single story living. Unfortunately, the week of the closing on the new home we lost her. So, we moved because at that point we were obligated to the mortgage and all that. The next week was my birthday, then our anniversary, then my sons birthday and Halloween and so on. With everything that has happened and the normal busy moments of life in a family with two kids under 5 I just have failed to rescue my books from their boxes.