We lost power for a bit last week. Wind gusts of up to fifty miles per hour knocked the electricity off just as dinner finished cooking, which was great timing, but left us snarfing our $5 Aldi pizza in the dark. (I'm thankful I'd decided not to cook that night; trying to eat something like soup in the dark would've been more of an adventure than my stain-fighting abilities could handle.)
Nevertheless, I persisted, snuggling up with the battery-powered lantern to continue reading my book. Which got me thinking about all the other oddball places and situations in which I've spent my time turning pages.
- in the hospital, pregnant with my son and suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum (I kept having to put the book down; reading one of the heavier hardback Harry Potters with what's essentially your 14th IV in less than two weeks is, uh, painful, to say the least.)
- in the chair during three separate root canals (Hyperemesis gravidarum does no favors for your teeth, either.)
- outside during parades and cross-country matches in all sorts of weather
- before choir concerts, band concerts, and plays
- burning with fever and feeling terrible during bouts with the flu (I finished Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov during one bout; another had me blowing through the last two books of the Twilight series.)
- Parkside. Poolside. The side of the McDonald's playplace. All the places you take small children to play.
- multiple migraine-inducing places with loud music and flashing lights where sadists throw children's birthday parties
- so many car trips
- waiting in the car: for my son at school, my daughter at preschool, and my husband's train
- a beach and hotel room in Mexico, an airplane heading to Paris, another one heading home from Belgium
- on a hospital bed, waiting to receive sacroiliac joint injections
- during tornado warnings, floods, blizzards, searing heatwaves
- ALL THE WAITING ROOMS
You know how it is. Reading. All the time, in every place. Sometimes with a tiny hint of, 'Are people going to think I'm weird for reading here?', immediately followed with, 'Eh, who cares!' Constant comments from other people: "You're reading here?" "How can you concentrate here?" "Did you seriously bring a book?" "You must be the best-read person I've ever met." And my favorite, "You are always reading!!!"
Yes. Yes, I am.
Tell me about the places you've read. By the side of the road as you waited for a tow truck? At the zoo in front of the lion enclosure? In the shower with your kindle in a waterproof, see-through bag? (Don't think I haven't contemplated that.) I'd love to hear all the interesting, surprising places you've exercised your love of reading.
LOL. I love this! I can't think of anywhere really unique that I've taken a book, but I always have one (or more) on me so that I'm never bored in waiting rooms, on airplanes, at the park with kids, etc. I did read a book (on my phone) in the stadium during a college football game once—how's that?
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! (I'm not a football fan, I would've brought a book to that too, haha!) I took a book with me when my son and I went to a Blackhawks game three years ago, and I did pull it out at the train station after the game, where we had an hour wait, but my son was bored and wanted to play catch with my rolled-up gloves instead, so we did that! (The hockey game itself was awesome, no book needed during that!)
DeleteLOL, this is hilarious! Yes, I pretty much have a book near me at all times, and any time I'm going to be at a place for a long period of time it's a necessity (and vacation usually means an extra bag just for books).
ReplyDeleteYup! I always have at least one book with me, two if I'm close to finishing that first one (and sometimes three if #2 is short, because I'm a fast reader). I never leave home without a book! :)
DeleteOh, I read all the time too. I've even read in the line at the grocery store!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I love it! I've pulled out my phone and used my flashcard app to study French and Norwegian vocabulary words in grocery store lines. Might as well use that time productively, right???
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