I actually cashed in some Chapters/Indigo Plum Rewards on the weekend.
No big deal for a lot of people, and you’re probably wondering why I would even mention it.
But for me, this is monumental.
As a child I loved books. I read many, so many in fact that part of the explanation for my eyesight changing rapidly during those younger years was the amount of time I spent reading books. I had an aunt who loved books and every gift she gave us included books. Whenever she cleaned out her own library, we got more books. Thanks to her love of reading, my own children inherited many classic collections.
I don’t remember when I shifted from reading to other pass times while making sure that my children had lots of books and that I read to them often, usually daily. Even as an adult, I enjoyed children’s books, and I found particular ones especially entertaining. But I had lost my own desire to read for fun and found that I only picked up a book when I wanted to learn about something or someone, finding non-fiction to be my genre of choice. That is, when I actually did read something, which wasn’t often at all.
My daughter has been an avid reader and book lover all her life. I’ve spent a lot of time with her in book stores over the years, me perusing the non-fiction while she got lost in the wonderful land of dreams. I envied her on more than one occasion; I wished that I could lose myself in a good book for a quiet afternoon or weekend, that I could experience the anticipation of getting home from work or some other activity and settling in to find out what happened in the next chapter of a book that had captured my interest. Many snowy and rainy days I watched her curl up with a coffee and a blanket and enter another world for hours on end and wished I could do the same.
I love the smell of books. I love the look and feel of the paper in the ones that have uneven edges. I DO judge books by their covers and there are some really cool ones that even have raised designs on them! I love to be in bookstores.
But I’ve always felt a bit sad that I didn’t actually love reading. Any rewards I built up over the years were the result of purchases made at Christmas for my book loving girl 🙂
And then it happened.
I was standing over a book display while Kate searched for something to add to her library – and she does have a library such that when she still lived at home we had to keep close track of the value of her book collection in our home insurance records – and I was so frustrated by my lack of interest in reading. I just wanted to read, to be “a reader”. I felt left out of a huge world of wonder. I wanted to go home that day with something I could curl up in a chair with and lose myself in for a few hours. I knew that was what she was going to do!
So I picked up a couple of books that looked interesting and read the summaries on the inside covers, checked with Kate to make sure she didn’t know of anything particularly bad about them (I cannot handle horrific or bloody themes, or graphic sexual content!) and I settled on a couple with themes from the second world war era which has always caught my attention; one was a true story. I started to feel excited, I made my purchase, and I came home, got settled, and started reading.
Don’t laugh, but that was just two weeks ago and I’m now finishing my fifth novel, having ordered three more online last week and picking up two at Indigo on Saturday, taking advantage of the rewards I have collected buying my daughter books!
Now when I go to the bookstore with her I’m no longer just enjoying the atmosphere and feeling like I’m missing something. I’m part of it now. I’m searching for stories that will take me away to other lands, other places in time, and I’m anticipating getting home where I can cozy in and read. I’m totally enjoying it and thankful that I’ve finally found my way back to being a reader!
For now, I will sign off, as I simply must go and find out what actually happened to The Woman in Cabin 10 …
Reinventing Ann 