day fifteen: i am thankful for....

books to read.

i love to read. i always have. my parents instilled a love in reading within me at a very early age and i am so grateful for that.

one of the best things about reading (besides the whole learning part of it) is being able to lose myself in another world. the characters come to life. elizabeth bennett? yeah, she's like my bff. rodion romanovitch raskolnikov? i was right there, next to him, all through his psychotic break. i fell in love with becky right along with tom sawyer. i learned to fly on a broomstick just like harry potter. and don't tell anyone, but i secretly wished i could become a vampire just like bella did. (although my favorite vampire book would have to be interview with a vampire.)

when i read a book i can't put it down. it's almost like i become obessive. i have to find out what happens next, even if the book isn't really that great. i read in every spare minute i have. if i could make a career out of reading, i totally would. i'm one of those dorks who laughs out loud and cries when i read. i become a part of the story, a first hand witness, and i love it.

i've already mentioned a few of my favorite books: pride and prejudice, crime and punimshment, tom sawyer (also love huckleberry finn), those darn harry potter and twilight books, interview with a vampire. currently i'm reading the outlander series and i've really enjoyed that. the scarlet letter...sense and sensibility...walk two moons...beauty...little women...chronicles of narnia...shakespeare...to kill a mockingbird...the diary of anne frank...grapes of wrath (anything by steinbeck)...where the sidewalk ends...the odyssey...the book thief...oh how i could go on and on.

then you add on those great books full of page after page of art...my art history texts...

and the books i read to help me know how to be a better mom and a better person. the books that teach me about the world, about people, about nature, about love.

i am so grateful for the ability to read. i am so grateful for the abundance of reading material. i am thankful for my local library, where i can read a book without having to spend the $15 to buy it. i am thankful for great friends who loan me books. i am thankful for my english teachers who taught me to love books and to see beyond the surface of the words. i am thankful for great authors and playwrights who allow me to see into their minds and escape into their fantasy worlds. i'm grateful for my bookcases, full of beautiful books, hard bound, paperback, some of them dog eared and falling apart from being read so much. i'm thankful for the way books smell, paper and ink, excitement, anticipation, joy.