Books

I’ve had a complicated relationship with books and reading in the past several years. For someone who has been an avid reader in times past, this was really puzzling and painful. I can remember being a teenager and staying up well past midnight on a school night reading a Mary Higgins Clark mystery or tearing into a romance novel I’d found at the public library. Reading for pleasure has been a big piece of my identity so to have that go away felt like a mental amputation in some ways.

Busy-ness, the need to be productive, the chanting voice telling me I’m lazy if I sit and read all contributed to leaving books on the shelf. Piling on some major life events and I couldn’t concentrate. I would buy books, check-out books, pull books off the shelf and they stacked up on my nightstand and I didn’t read any of them. And the pile of books was another reminder of my failures. Shame is never a great, sustainable motivator.

Sometime in March a friend gently suggested reading something lighthearted and easily accessible just to get into reading again. I had gotten my public library card several years ago and got the Libby app on my phone so that I could listen to audio books while working on the river rock projects. I’m on my phone a lot because in my darkest, loneliest hours, I can connect with friends and loved ones in an instant. It isn’t quite the same as their being here, but boy it sure helps. I thought to myself, hey if you’re already on your phone, check out a book from your Libby app. You can read a couple of pages, Bec, and then flip to IG or FB as you like, but at least you can read a little.

So I did. I’m currently two thirds of the way through my 28th romance novel this year–lighthearted, guaranteed happy ending (read that as you will), and I am particularly fond of ones with unconventional and quirky female leads and witty dialogue. I’m not looking to knock out the have-to-read-before-I-die literary greats out of a sense of should. That shoulding and shaming are toxic and I hate it. I’m reading for pleasure again. And I love it. My current favorite author is Minerva Spencer (pen name) who has been a criminal prosecutor and history professor, too.

I’m thankful to love books again. Romance novels are fun. I’ve enjoyed them since I was a teenager. They’re lighthearted, sexy, and sweet and I could certainly use a little of all that right now.

(And if you want an apologia for the genre more erudite than mine, my kiddo will set the record straight.)