I’m a reader and have been since I was a very little girl. I
distinctly recall the surge of power I experienced as I sounded out the word
Mayflower on the side of a big rig parked beyond the window of the truck stop
diner on one of my family’s many road trips. From then on, I was hooked.
As a
teenager, I often found myself slogging through the halls of my small town high school, bleary-eyed
from staying up way past midnight to finish just one more chapter. In my twenties,
when I was part of the corporate world in Boston, I normally read through my lunch
hour and the daily commute to and from the city was spent with my nose buried
in the pages of a paperback. Later, once I’d become a mother, I learned the art
of turning pages while juggling babies, bottles and diapers.
I have fond memories of reading wherever I happened to be,
including some unusual places. My girlfriends love to tease me about the day
they found me curled up with a book in a public ladies’ room at the Bellagio
Hotel on one of our girls’ trips to Vegas. Then, there was the time I
accompanied my husband to his company Christmas party. No, I didn’t bring a
book along that night, but was reminded of another time I had while being
introduced to one of his colleagues’ wives. The woman grinned and said, “I
remember you. You’re the lady who brought a book to the Diamondbacks game the
company put together last summer. I was so jealous,” she added and shot her
husband a chastising glare. “I planned to bring my own book that day, but he wouldn’t let me.”
But, my all-time favorite reading memory is from my eighteenth
year. Summer was in full swing and I was working
at the local cinema. My best friend earned mad money slinging pizza dough at
her parents’ sub shop. As it happened, we discovered we both had a rare day off, so we headed to the beach, of course. As usual, I brought a paperback romance along.
We arrived at about eight in the morning and set up our
blanket and chairs. Then I started to read. Out loud, while my friend listened.
We were interrupted a few times, by friends who stopped by to say hello and for
a half hour as we walked down to the café to buy a sandwich, but ten hours
later, I finished and closed the book. My friend and I shared a sigh and a grin,
then both spent the night nursing the blisters of our severe sunburns.
And if I got the chance to do it again, I’d do so willingly.
I’m not exactly sure, but I believe the book was a Kathleen E Woodwiss title, however,
the title and author don’t matter. Only the memory does and the continued love
of reading that day inspired.
 |
| My phone doubles as a paperback. |
Thirty years later, my love of romance still holds true and my
favorite place to read is the beach. Unfortunately, shorelines are scarce here
in Phoenix, which is another reason I’m thrilled my son and his fiancé have
chosen a cruise for their wedding this December. I see some beautiful reading
spots in my future, but in the meantime, my backyard pool is a fine
alternative.
(Yes, that's me poolside in my back yard.)
What about you? Do you have a favorite reading memory or place to
read?
When Mac isn’t lounging
poolside with a new romance, she’s busy weaving happily-ever-afters for her
characters, like Chef Meggy Calhoun, the heroine of The Billionaire’s Con, Mac’s
small-town romance (inspired by her home town of Saugus, MA) available at The Wild Rose
Press and wherever e-books are sold.
7 comments:
I remember reading in bed late into the night when I was young, long after I should have gone to sleep. Also, tanning with a book and a timer back in the day when we never wore sunscreen. Now my reading time seems to be filled with writing. I used to by bags of books at the used bookstore. I haven't done that in years. (sigh)
I would drive my mom crazy by propping a book behind the faucet on the kitchen sink and read while I washed dishes. She was sure the dishes were not getting clean...and I do wonder about that now. LOL I didn't realize you live in Phoenix, Mac. I'm just north of you in Tonto Basin, by Lake Roosevelt. Stay cool!
I'm another one who would read everywhere and anywhere. My first introduction to romance reading as a teenager was the book Peyton Place. I'd sneak downstairs to the den at night to read my mother's copy. Shanna, by Kathleen Woodiwiss (read after I was married with kids) was the book that inspired me to start writing my own. Like Jannine, my reading time has now seriously dwindled to almost no time at all. Great post.
I read while I was in labor with my second child. Does that count as unusual? The nurses tried to take the book from me and I put up a fuss.
As a kid, I read anywhere. We had one bathroom. Whenever someone wanted to come in, my mom would call for me to stop reading and get out. I discovered Harlequin romances and read every one our library had. I read while nursing my children. I still read a lot, usually at night before sleep. My books are on my iPad, which I take everywhere.
I, too, have spent many bleary-eyed days from staying up far too late to read! And my favorite reading spot is the beach. These days the only chance I get to read for pleasure is at night, when I go to bed. I prop up my pillows, turn on my Kindle (which has a built-in reading light!), and dig into whatever book I'm reading until my eyes droop and my husband says, "Are you awake?" :-) Great topic, Mac.
Herman Wouk's Margorie Morningstar was my inspiration to write...about women transformed. That's the book I hid under my pillow. But I was the only voracious reader in my family...neither of my parents were readers...so I stood out. I still read a book a week by reading during my exercises and before I go to bed. Couldn't live without books to read!
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