While sitting in The Commons with my friends one day at the end of my sophomore year in college, everybody was discussing what there favorite books were. It was seven of us there. My friends were naming books like The Old Man and the Sea, Pride and Prejudice, and Zombies, Harry Potter, True Blood, etc. But then my turn came and I honestly could not thing of any book I really enjoyed. To keep the conversation going and to avoid having them lecture me about how books are enjoyable I lied and said Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. I did a senior thesis on that book in high school so I knew that if they asked me about it I could tell them.
Because I could not think of the last book I enjoyed reading I tried to just think of the last books I read. I never really enjoyed reading. It was something about staring at a gray sheet of paper with black eight-point font that always struck me as boring. But as I thought I could not think of the last book I read. I always got by school just skimming the books and searching spark notes the day before any test. Then I realized I never actually read a book all the way through since probably Go Dogs Go when I was five.
I was in denial about having never read a book but after a few days of actually trying to think of a book I read I still could only think of books I read two chapters of, got bored, and just skimmed and looked up spark notes for. I was not too worried about having never actually read a book until I realized: I’m a journalist. A journalist that doesn’t read is like a mathematician that does not us division.
With the summer near and knowing I would have a lot of down time I say this as an opportunity to actually beginning reading books, even if I did not enjoy them. This past summer I read two books, both which revolved around sports in hopes to keep my interest. I read The Blind Side (my new favorite book), which is about the Baltimore Ravens first round draft pick Michael Orr who went from being a homeless orphan to a multi-millionare in the NFL, and Red and Me, about the legendary player (Bill Russell) and coach (Red Auerbach) duo that dominated the NBA for a decade in Boston. To my surprise I really enjoyed both books. Not only is it something that I should do if I want to remain being a sports journalist, but reading the two books over the summer actually was enjoyable.
Now I can honestly say I have read a full book that wasn’t a Dr. Suess book. I have even recently bough the book The Yankee Years, which is a book by former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre who is telling the stories about his experiences in
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After reading several peoples blogs, I have come to the conclusion that people like to find a way to escape from reality. For me this comes through reading and I would guess for you it would be through your writing. I respect that a lot because it is something you are actually creating. However I cant even imagine not finishing a book. I don't know if its my OCD or not but not knowing the outcome of a story I started would kill me. Maybe this has something to do with you being an author of sorts and wanting to control the outcome or ending of the story? ( I dont know just a thought) :)
ReplyDeleteI can see where you are coming from. Myself, i enjoy reading non-fiction books rather than fiction. Bibliographies of famous athletes are a good read. I enjoy reading those and knowing what they went through when they young and how they defined the odds and became very famous. They are also a good means of motivation and very informational. The only fiction books i liked was the Harry Potters. Do not get me wrong, i admire people who write fiction books. I just prefer sport books and bibliographies.
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