My love affair with books began when I was three years old. My mother was teaching my older sister to read and I learned over her shoulder. I vaguely remember watching Hooked on Phonics with my sister and tirelessly playing the alphabet game with my mom (“B says buh-buh-buh, C says cuh-cuh-cuh”). Before I knew it, I was being reprimanded for reading books at the dinner table.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I still love books just as I did when I was a kid. If I come to your house and you have a bookshelf, that’s where I’ll be. No entertainment from you necessary.
I read everything all of the time. I have a problem finishing books, but that’s normally because I’ve found another book that seems even more pressing to read!
I just love reading. There is so much to learn and experience through books. When people (especially men) say they don’t read with more nonchalance than a person might say they don’t eat chitlins, I don’t know how to respond. What do you mean you DON’T read??? That’s like saying you don’t eat!, I always think to myself. I assume that the person had a bad experience with reading growing up and that’s why they steer clear of books now. How sad!
I remember reading Bernstein Bears hardcover books as a kid. I loved Nancy Drew and Choose Your Own Adventure. I was a super Babysitters Club fan (I was Kristy, the president and tomboy haha). I also loved Sweet Valley High (who didn’t want an identical twin???). Fiction books allowed me to enter another world. I still read them as a way of escape sometimes. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is probably the best fiction book I’ve read in my entire life. I highly recommend it.
Somewhere along the way I discovered non-fiction books. Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul and Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits for Highly Effective Teens were some of my first non-fiction books. I also remember reading The Princess Within by Serita Ann Jakes, God Chasers by Tommy Tenney and What to Do Until Love Finds You by Michelle McKinney-Hammond. Non-fiction books became sort of a supplemental school and church for me. I learned so much about myself, life and God from them.
Today my bookshelves are filled with fiction books and non-fiction books like…
- Christian books – Stuff Christians Like, Why Revival Tarries, Then Sings My Soul, Mere Christianity, Intercessory Prayer, Passion & Purity, Faith, Completely His
- Financial books – Getting a Financial Life, Automatic Millionaire, The Millionaire Next Door, Love Is Not Enough, Shoo Jimmy Choo, Rich Kid/Smart Kid
- Relationship books – He’s Just Not That Into You, Be Honest You’re Not That Into Him Either, Never Satisfied: Why Men Cheat, Better Single Than Sorry, Not Tonight Mr Right, Stupid About Men, Between Boyfriends, What Was I Thinking?: Bad Boyfriend Stories
- Personal Development Books – QuarterLife Crisis, Smart Girls Think Twice, Through a Season of Grief, Real World 101,
- A Mixture – Sex and the Soul of a Woman, TwentySomething, The List, Every Thought Captive
Unfortunately, my GRE books are collecting dust on the shelves also, but that’s another blogpost for another day.
A dream of mine is to have a library in my first house. I want a room (or a closed off area) with nothing but bookshelves, a rug, a
The closet Mr. Big built for Carrie. Oh-EM-Gee!
gorgeous floor lamp and a chaise. Just like Carrie’s closet in Sex and the City the Movie is my dream for my clothes, Belle’s library in Beauty and the Beast is my dream for my books.
This is despite the fact that I bought a Nook yesterday.
Yes, I, Alissa Christine, a connoisseur of good books, a person who loves the smell, the pages, the cover, the spine and everything about books (including knowing how much I’ve read and how much I have left to read) bought a Nook. A digital e-reader.
I used to be completely against the Nook. I thought it blasphemous to carry around an Ipod/PDA looking thing as opposed to a book. “Books are conversation starters!” I remember tweeting concerning the Kindle,”Plus reading something on a screen just is NOT the same!”
But then I began to think…
The Nook is cute!!!! Plus, I read Twitter, Facebook, emails, and articles on my Blackberry all the time. In doctor’s offices, at the hair salon, while getting my feet done, while sitting in traffic…I don’t always have a book with me, but I always have my Blackberry and therefore I always have something to read. Now, I can always have my Nook. It won’t replace books for me and I doubt I’ll be scrolling through a Nook while lying in bed at night or using it at church instead of my Bible, but I am interested to see how quickly I get used to it. I’m also interested to see if I even end up liking it.
I’ll keep you posted…
Alissa Henry 
Yep, my book shelves are the most important pieces of furniture in my house. I got book shelves with books that people are free to read or borrow, then I got my own book shelf with my favorite books and signed or personalized copies. Reaching for those books will get your hand slapped.
I’m still getting used to the e-reader myself. I just got an Ipad for teaching this online course and I actually like it for the convenience and the quality of the image, but I still prefer the look and feel of a real book. I also do my creative writing with the pen and pad. I can’t use the key board. “Dammit Jim, I’m a writer not a computer programmer!” I’m just old school that way….and a Trekker. Picard was clearly the better captain, but Bones was much better than Crusher and Pulaski.
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I was all about the “real deal” until I tech-napped my mom’s iPad recently. It’s terribly convenient, and I took to it immediately.
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I have a nook I use and I also take out physical books from the library. I buy physical books less often than nook books. The main reason I like my nook is I like it is backlit, so I can read in bed without disturbing my husband, and the ability to have a variety of books in a small item to carry too, especially when traveling. I have bookshelves in two rooms full of books as well.
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