I wasn't always a reader. I read mostly when I had to for school. I never really understood the whole reading "trend" . In elementry I had friends that read the "little house" series and "Nancy Drew" series, as well as the Hardy Boys. I watched Little House on the Prairie and The Hardy Boys, so didn't feel the need to read the books. Infact, it was sheer torture when during a shopping trip with mom she would drag me into a book store, it was as bad as being draged into a fabric store. :)
By the time I hit Jr. High, not a whole lot changed. I read when it was required for an assignment, but that's about it. Some of those books were classics like "To Kill a Mockingbird" , "The Good Earth" .They were amazing books, but not books I would just pick up and read unless I had to. When I was 9th grade all anyone could talk about was the Baby Sitters Club and V.C. Andrews's "Flowers in the Attic". The Baby Sitters club really didn't intrest me, but Flowers in the Attic sure did! So I read that. I was kind of surprised by it's sexual content, but being 14 I felt "cool" for reading such a grown-up book. Till this day I have NO idea if mom knew what I was reading lol. My mom did get me some books that same year. They were geared for teens, at least that's how they were marketed One of them was called "I love you stupid" and it was basiclly about a teenage boy's quest for loosing his virginity! The second book was titled, I think, Sooner or Later. It was about a 13 year old girl who pretends to be 16 because she's in love with her 17 year old guitar instructor. The whole book centers around her secret and their relationship, again with this series, the girl looses her virginity and THEN worries about being pregnant. Needless to say I never told Mom what those books were about as I was 14 and VERY boy crazy. Also, I looked 17, so I was always being hit on by older guys.
High School came around and there were quite a few books that I was required to read. Some of them were very good. Most of them infact, but again these are the sort of books that I read beacause I had to in order to keep my parents from sending me to Catholic school! I had to do a book report on a fiction book of my choosing. Sounds simple right? Well to a non-hobby reader, it wasn't easy. I didn't figure VC Andrews was tame enough for a school book report lol. I found Danielle Steele's book "Palomino" . The only reason I picked it up was because I loved palomino horses. Anyways I liked the book and got an A on that book report, which furthered guarenteed that I wouldn't get sent to Catholic school. I believe that was the only book that I chose to read all through high school. I was too busy with homework (when threatend), work and hanging with friends, to read.
At 19 I shared an apartment with a friend. She used to read all the time. She got me started on Piers Anthony. I believe the first book I read of his was a Xanth novel. Loved that series. I learned, then, that fantasy was the genre I liked the most. Next book from Piers was "On a Pale Horse", it was the first in the Incarnation of Immortality series. I read them all. Then a friend let me borrow all the CS Lewis Narnia books. I still wasn't an avid reader, but I was starting to see the joy of books.
When I was 22 I found out about an author named Anne Rice! She had her vampire series, and I said to myself "Self, we've loved vampires since we were a little girl". So I read "Interview with a Vampire". I think I finished that book in 1 day. I went on to read most in that series, but not all.
I didn't read for a long time after that because I became a mommy and between that and taking care of a very sick child, I didn't have the energy for it. When I was visiting my mom, she gave me a book. It was Karen Robards "Walking after Midnight" . I wasn't really sure about it, but mom said it would be a good way for me to escape what was going on with my son, and at that point I was willing to try anything to escape. So that night I started reading W.A.M. WOW, I couldn't put it down. Karen's story had most of my favorite components. Mystery, dry-humor, sex, and funny animals! If anyone hasn't read it, I recomend it. Well I read more of her books and then mom handed me more books by different authors, Iris Johanson, Carly Phillips, Susan Elisabeth Phillips, Sandra Hill and that's a few of them. One day she handed me a book that she thought I would like. She knew my love of all things vampires and werewolves, so she handed me a book by a little known author at the time, Sherrilyn Kenyon! That's when I fell in LOVE with Paranormal Romance novels. Once I started reading her, I never looked back. I would browse books stores for hours looking for paranormal romance authors. I have my favorites. Sherrilyn, of course, Darynda Jones, Dakota Cassidy, Jeanine Frost, Susan Sizemore, JR Rain, HT Night, Jaquelyn Frank, just to name a few. Trust me when I say that the list is VERY long but VERY distinguished.
About a year or so ago, I started venturing into unknown territory, well for me anyways. I always did love the sex aspect of romance, but I accidently stumbled upon Erotic Romance. WOW, talk about a jolt for the hormones! Sex for just sex sake is boring in books, like in real life. There needs to be emotion involved no matter how descriptive the sex acts are, or how many partners are in said act. Without the emotion it's just empty. That's the difference betwen Erotica and Erotic Romance. Erotic Romance may have a leading lady and 3 leading men, but there is always emotions involved in the love-making, that's important for most women. Now some would say that reading erotic romance is "empty" and it might be for some, but for me, it's a nice little outlet. I'm curious by nature, so I can explore anything I want without any guilt or negative repercussions. It's almost as if i'm exploring my own sexuality without having to actually worry about pleasing more than one partner, cause lets face it, that's enough lol. But I can read and explore and be voyueristic in completely safe enviorment. Same with paranormal. I can be a vampire without having to actually drink blood (yuck), or change into a werewolf or teleport to an exotic island...etc...I can do this all from the comfort of my big, fluffy reading chair!
That is what reading is for me, escape. I can go anyhwere in the world, or out of this world, by simply picking up a book, or my kindle. I can live a complete and full fantasy life knowing it has NO negative impact on my most excellent real life! I believe everybody needs to escape, be it phyiscally and/or emotionally.
By the time I hit Jr. High, not a whole lot changed. I read when it was required for an assignment, but that's about it. Some of those books were classics like "To Kill a Mockingbird" , "The Good Earth" .They were amazing books, but not books I would just pick up and read unless I had to. When I was 9th grade all anyone could talk about was the Baby Sitters Club and V.C. Andrews's "Flowers in the Attic". The Baby Sitters club really didn't intrest me, but Flowers in the Attic sure did! So I read that. I was kind of surprised by it's sexual content, but being 14 I felt "cool" for reading such a grown-up book. Till this day I have NO idea if mom knew what I was reading lol. My mom did get me some books that same year. They were geared for teens, at least that's how they were marketed One of them was called "I love you stupid" and it was basiclly about a teenage boy's quest for loosing his virginity! The second book was titled, I think, Sooner or Later. It was about a 13 year old girl who pretends to be 16 because she's in love with her 17 year old guitar instructor. The whole book centers around her secret and their relationship, again with this series, the girl looses her virginity and THEN worries about being pregnant. Needless to say I never told Mom what those books were about as I was 14 and VERY boy crazy. Also, I looked 17, so I was always being hit on by older guys.
High School came around and there were quite a few books that I was required to read. Some of them were very good. Most of them infact, but again these are the sort of books that I read beacause I had to in order to keep my parents from sending me to Catholic school! I had to do a book report on a fiction book of my choosing. Sounds simple right? Well to a non-hobby reader, it wasn't easy. I didn't figure VC Andrews was tame enough for a school book report lol. I found Danielle Steele's book "Palomino" . The only reason I picked it up was because I loved palomino horses. Anyways I liked the book and got an A on that book report, which furthered guarenteed that I wouldn't get sent to Catholic school. I believe that was the only book that I chose to read all through high school. I was too busy with homework (when threatend), work and hanging with friends, to read.
At 19 I shared an apartment with a friend. She used to read all the time. She got me started on Piers Anthony. I believe the first book I read of his was a Xanth novel. Loved that series. I learned, then, that fantasy was the genre I liked the most. Next book from Piers was "On a Pale Horse", it was the first in the Incarnation of Immortality series. I read them all. Then a friend let me borrow all the CS Lewis Narnia books. I still wasn't an avid reader, but I was starting to see the joy of books.
When I was 22 I found out about an author named Anne Rice! She had her vampire series, and I said to myself "Self, we've loved vampires since we were a little girl". So I read "Interview with a Vampire". I think I finished that book in 1 day. I went on to read most in that series, but not all.
I didn't read for a long time after that because I became a mommy and between that and taking care of a very sick child, I didn't have the energy for it. When I was visiting my mom, she gave me a book. It was Karen Robards "Walking after Midnight" . I wasn't really sure about it, but mom said it would be a good way for me to escape what was going on with my son, and at that point I was willing to try anything to escape. So that night I started reading W.A.M. WOW, I couldn't put it down. Karen's story had most of my favorite components. Mystery, dry-humor, sex, and funny animals! If anyone hasn't read it, I recomend it. Well I read more of her books and then mom handed me more books by different authors, Iris Johanson, Carly Phillips, Susan Elisabeth Phillips, Sandra Hill and that's a few of them. One day she handed me a book that she thought I would like. She knew my love of all things vampires and werewolves, so she handed me a book by a little known author at the time, Sherrilyn Kenyon! That's when I fell in LOVE with Paranormal Romance novels. Once I started reading her, I never looked back. I would browse books stores for hours looking for paranormal romance authors. I have my favorites. Sherrilyn, of course, Darynda Jones, Dakota Cassidy, Jeanine Frost, Susan Sizemore, JR Rain, HT Night, Jaquelyn Frank, just to name a few. Trust me when I say that the list is VERY long but VERY distinguished.
About a year or so ago, I started venturing into unknown territory, well for me anyways. I always did love the sex aspect of romance, but I accidently stumbled upon Erotic Romance. WOW, talk about a jolt for the hormones! Sex for just sex sake is boring in books, like in real life. There needs to be emotion involved no matter how descriptive the sex acts are, or how many partners are in said act. Without the emotion it's just empty. That's the difference betwen Erotica and Erotic Romance. Erotic Romance may have a leading lady and 3 leading men, but there is always emotions involved in the love-making, that's important for most women. Now some would say that reading erotic romance is "empty" and it might be for some, but for me, it's a nice little outlet. I'm curious by nature, so I can explore anything I want without any guilt or negative repercussions. It's almost as if i'm exploring my own sexuality without having to actually worry about pleasing more than one partner, cause lets face it, that's enough lol. But I can read and explore and be voyueristic in completely safe enviorment. Same with paranormal. I can be a vampire without having to actually drink blood (yuck), or change into a werewolf or teleport to an exotic island...etc...I can do this all from the comfort of my big, fluffy reading chair!
That is what reading is for me, escape. I can go anyhwere in the world, or out of this world, by simply picking up a book, or my kindle. I can live a complete and full fantasy life knowing it has NO negative impact on my most excellent real life! I believe everybody needs to escape, be it phyiscally and/or emotionally.
No comments:
Post a Comment