I was one of those kids who loved to read. A lot. I was lucky to be what's now called a "spontaneous reader"--somewhere in my second year, my brain magically decoded the written word, and I have been reading voraciously ever since.
In second grade, I began a borderline obsession with Nancy Drew mysteries, which are notoriously difficult to put down--right? My bedtime was 8:00, and I was allowed to read until 8:30. Sadly, Nancy Drew did not follow this strict timeline. I could not possibly stop reading just because my mother said it was time to turn my light out! How would I ever know if Nancy solved the secret of the old clock? or the mystery at Lilac Inn? No, it was impossible to stop reading...and so, tucked under the covers with my book and a flashlight, I defied my mother's well-intentioned rule and kept reading as late as I wanted. Or until I got caught. Whichever came first.
By high school, my mother had given up. She reluctantly accepted that she could not stop me from reading, and I no longer faced "lights out." Oh, I still had a bedtime, but I was allowed to read until I fell asleep, which was often when the book was done.
As an adult, things have not changed too much. Last night I finished the first book of 2010: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. (It was also the first book I've read on my new Kindle, but that is another blog entirely.) I didn't realize, when I began reading, that it was a mystery; how could I stop for something like sleep? I didn't. At 4 a.m., I finished the book, and that's when I turned out my light.
So I'm a little tired today. Oh well. Staying up all night with a good book is totally worth it. And reading a book under a blanket is just about the best thing in the whole world, which is why I'm putting this laptop down and picking up Beautiful Creatures, the second book of 2010. I'm looking forward to spending the day on the couch, under a blanket, with a good book in my hands. Bliss.
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