On Chain Reading

I’ve spent plenty of time writing about all the different things I do in my free time. From going on runs (which I hate) to watching baseball (which I love) to playing golf (which I think I love until it goes horribly wrong and then I realize I hate it until I hit one more good shot and then boom, I love it again). What I’ve found really interesting lately is how cyclical my hobbies have become in the last few years. Whether it’s TV, video games, or cooking, my passion for activities seems to wax and wane like the moon. So, while there are those lulls when nothing really seems to hit the spot as far as leisure-time activities, right now I am DEEPLY in love with reading.

I have to give a big shout out to my little-tiny-itty-bitty-book-club because without that obligation to read and pick books, who knows how long it would have taken me to get back into the swing of voraciously consuming literature. I guess I had been in a bit of a rut when it came to reading. Over the past year or so, I’d read the odd book here and there. I’d kept up with book club but never really dove into anything else…then we hit a string of books that started to light that fire inside me, “Salem’s Lot” (which was quite terrifying) “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead” (which wasn’t my favorite but was interesting) “Heat 2” (which was 100% kick-ass) and finally, my choice rolled around and I picked a nerd-ass-dork-ass fantasy-ass novel because why not! “The Lies of Locke Lamora” (which, in my opinion, absolutely rips) put the finishing touches on my completely rekindled love of reading.

In our book club, we read in chunks so we can talk about a portion of the book together without spoilers. Normally this is great, but when you’re reading a book you’re completely addicted to, it can feel like the cruelest punishment. This, in turn, spurred me to do something I haven’t done in years: simultaneously read multiple books. Since I couldn’t find out what happened to Locke and the rest of the Gentleman Bastards for another two weeks, I needed something to fuel my literary hunger. I turned to a recommendation I’d gotten long ago from a friend for a Sci-Fi novel called Hyperion and oh my lord did it pour gasoline on my reading fire. I couldn’t put it down except to finish the other book I was obsessed with!

Thankfully this feeling has persisted through our latest book club book, which I finished quite early (and which I’ll refrain from disclosing my thoughts on since we haven’t met to discuss it yet and it would be SO rude to tell you all how I feel before my fellow clubbies). I put that book down and immediately picked up another book that I’ve had sitting on my nightstand for a while “Kafka on the Shore” and I think it’s safe to say, my reading fervor should carry me through this novel as well. Who knows when this waxing will turn to waning but for now, I’m just riding the wave, chain reading from book to book!

 

What about you? Do you give yourself time between each book or do you fly from one to the next like some kind of skater blasting from book ramp to book ramp?