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"How Reading Changed My Life"

When I was younger, my favorite way to celebrate my birthday was to go and spend time by myself or with my mom since she would have to drive me at Barnes and Noble. One year my mom drove me an hour to the closest Barnes and Noble and spent the entire day reading in her own chair and corner while I wandered and read to my heart's content. My whole family quickly learned to give me giftcards so that I could buy books rather than buying toys or clothes as presents. And whenever I got those giftcards I looked for every chance I could to go to the store.

This year's birthday was no different. My birthday was earlier this week and my husband and I didn't do much to celebrate other than driving around and looking at Christmas lights (I've never been big on birthday celebrations). And on Tuesday night he had a meeting. So, I decided that I was going to take the time he was in his meeting to go and wander my favorite store. It was an amazingly wonderful night. I ended up being there for almost 4 hours! I spent most of that time walking up and down each aisle looking at all the titles and covers. While doing that I realized something about my reading habits or preferences... I realized that when I pick a book off the shelf I look at different things. I look at the font or cover picture and then read the back description. I then flip through the pages and look at the size of the margins and the font within the story. And if it's too big or too much empty paper I put the book back on the shelf, oftentimes adding it to the list of "won't read." I don't know why I do it that way. But I do and that may need to change because I feel like I am probably missing out on a lot of great reads by doing so.

As the night wore on, I found a book in the essays section that I thought looked interesting despite having large font and lots of empty paper. I picked it up, went and found a table, bought an iced tea and sat down to read. The book was Anna Quindlen's How Reading Changed My Life and I read all 85 pages of it in about 2 hours. It was an incredible read and as I finished it I couldn't help but think about how I want to read it again and again.

What made it so good in my eyes was a mixture of things. First of all, it was written very simply. It was almost like I was sitting across from Anna and talking with her about love for books and reading. It was written in such a way that it was more conversational rather than lecture or essay or even a well-rounded story. And with it being more conversational I was more intrigued and easily caught by what she had to say. Another thing that made it good was how so much of what she said about reading rang true in my heart. She talked about the deep passion and love she had (and has) for reading, along with how it was her safety net, her comfort zone, her escape. She talked about how she would go somewhere with her family, but long for that book she had left behind on the floor and the adventure it offered her. Those are sentiments that ring true in my heart in regards to reading. I was always the shy girl who hated doing anything with anyone outside of my family and books were always my refuge. Anna's book totally put every bit of emotion and appreciation I have for reading into words far better than I ever could. And as I read page after page I found myself appreciating more and more the fact that my parents encouraged and fostered a love of books in me as I grew up. All of those things made the book great and totally worth the backache that I got from sitting at the table reading for 2 hours.

Anna Quindlen's book How Reading Changed My Life was an amazingly great read and one that I am glad I picked up despite it having large font and empty space. I am definitely going to try and not just automatically put books on the "wont read" list because if I had done that with Anna's book, I would have missed out on a book that was wonderful. And I don't want to miss out on great books. I don't want to miss out on amazing stories. And I certainly don't want to lose my love for reading or spending my birthdays in a bookstore.

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