As a child I was never a fan of reading. Despite having an English teacher for a mother, Cliffs Notes were my friend to put it mildly. It wasn’t until I was in graduate school that I discovered one really could read for pleasure. I found this by reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as I prepared for a summer course in England. It is still my all time favorite and I reread it when I am bored, which sadly is a rarity. But the not having time element brought me to the state of reading as a guilty pleasure. I have discovered that I am not a “lay it on the night stand” kind of reader. Once I start, it must be finished. And so my recent guilty pleasure has been Mary Balogh books which I tend to start and push everything else aside. Balogh is a Regency era romance novelist. So far this summer I believe I have read seven of her works. And the last one, A Matter of Class, I read twice because the twist at the end made rereading the beginning even more fun. So now I just need to get to a Barnes and Noble which carries some of her older works so I can continue this terrific guilty pleasure. I don’t know what I will do when she runs out of books; however, I think she has around seventy so it isn’t bound to happen anytime soon although moderation is key because, again, I tend to neglect everything when I start reading.
Next, there is a new television show I have gotten into and for the life of me I don’t know why. I call it the teenage version of Desperate Housewives. Pretty Little Liars comes on ABC Family on Tuesday nights. Again, I don’t know why I am watching a show about silly 16 year old girls and their all too intricate lives of messing with older men, confused sexuality, and a dead friend who is haunting them via texts. Seriously, why do I care about this show again? Okay it’s got mystery; it is a far cry from my thirty-something life with children; and it is nothing like my teenage years, so why not?
Third is my obsession with planning trips. Seriously, I might chart a trip to the grocery store if it took more than ten minutes to get there. Planning travel used to be a hobby when my husband and I went on vacation; however, now it is an all out quest. I research restaurants, attractions, hotels and stops for the kids. I budget, not down to the penny yet but I am afraid the time may be coming. I plan so much that I even plan in flexibility to my schedule. Isn’t that ironic on some level? But my husband likes it and I feel like we get the most out of our trips this way. Plus when traveling with two small children, it is always best to look ahead because you will never see everything that is coming. So when I get stressed I plan the next trip even if it is six months away.
Strangely I now realize that “doing” seems to be glaringly absent from my guilty pleasures. Now I wonder why that is?
I love, love, love reading! Actually, Sandi is the one that got me started when I was very young. I'd go with her to Headlee's Drugstore when she went to buy books. She read a lot, and I realized that it was a fun thing to do. I always love hearing when someone finds the joy in one of my favorite pasttimes.
ReplyDeleteI love reading, too! I always have. I think my mom is the reason I love it so much because she read books to us when we were kids and I loved it! I sadly have very little time to read these days with Max, and my reading time will probably be shortened even more with Harry's arrival in September, but I can always look forward to the day when I can read again! I don't consider reading a guilty pleasure, though. I consider it essential. Actually, I don't consider anything to be a guilty pleasure because I don't feel guilty about making myself happy. We all need pampering now and again, don't we? Ha! Hope to see you guys soon!
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