Bookworm

I am bookish. Always have been.

The first book I learned to read was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I taught myself, but consistently got stuck on the word cocoon.

My paternal grandma used to read me The Runaway Bunny in French. That was always a special treat. The same grandma gave me books as gifts. Books from her childhood,

When I was supposed to be napping as a little girl, I'd read instead. I still prefer reading to sleeping. Now, however, I read in bed. The special treat is reading when I wake up and don't have to be anywhere.

I started a reading project a in 2006 to get through the entire list of Pulitzer Prize winning fiction. I've bounced around the list, which begins in 1918. I couldn't imagine reading a slew of period pieces all in a row. Thankfully, I've had a really hard time finding several of them, so skipping around has been easy.

I've picked up books at used book stores, read a couple of handfuls of them before I'd started the project, and bought one or two of them new.

Recently, I realized I had quite an assortment of gift certificates to one of Nashville's independent bookstores. I'd been there several times with Grandma, and one of their staff members is trying to get an advance copy of the book she's been dying itching to read for at least two years.

When I went there this week, I exchanged a book that I didn't want, and got one I'd been hoping to pick up instead. I also brought in my reading list, and the nice man who is trying to get the book for Grandma went through it with me, finding the few reasonably priced out of print books on my list.

After they arrive, I'll add them to my bedside bookcase. When they're finished, they'll move to the large, living room bookcase. If they're not memorable, they move further...

Thankfully, I finished a great one last month, and am loving the one I'm devouring right now. I anticipate the arrival of the new-ish tomes. I guess it's cool to have books coming into my collection that none of my friends have read, unless they're into obscure Depression era novelists. Regardless of their current popularity or readability, they will at least be interesting to talk about later.  Can't wait!