Birth of a Bookwhore

I guess I really should explain what I mean by Book Whore.  The word whore has such negative thoughts and feeling associated it with it, one would wonder why I'd label myself as such.  I can't really be certain, but I think my college room mate, Sarah, who is also my best friend was the person to come up with being a book whore.

I've always read, ever since I could remember.  I had stacks and stacks of children's books in my room as a little girl.  I can attribute my love of reading to my mom and my brother, Charlie.  I didn't have a favorite children's book, at least, I don't recall having one.  I have one or two that I kept as keepsakes.  The first book I really, really remember is Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon.  I read it in second grade.  Now, if you are familiar with horror novels, you are probably wondering how the bloody hell I got an adult horror novel in second grade.  And you are also possibly thinking that my mother didn't watch me closely enough.  Don't worry, she was the model mother.  She always said I was X going on thirty, no matter how old I was.  My second grade teacher always gave us free time once a week and I always chose to read.  She took my novel away from me and said I could have it back after she spoke with my mom to make sure I wasn't lying about my mom actually giving it to me to read.

Swan Song was returned to me, I finished it and moved on to other books.  I have a few memorable books I read as a kid, but only a few stuck with me--The Prydain Chronicles, Swan Song, Winter of Fire, several Melanie Rawn Series, and others I can't think of right off hand.  I was always an advanced reader and breezed easily through all of the reading portions of standardized testing.  It is something that has always come easily to me, partly, I think because of how my wee little brain works and also because my mom cultivated such a passion for reading in me.  We tend to see what our elders do and want to mimic them, so that is what I sat out to do.  Even now, my mom has been helping me watch my niece while her parents are on vacation and all she has done is read all week.

Ever since I was little, I wanted a life revolving around books.  My dream house involves a library.  The smell of a library makes me happy.  The way the books look on shelves makes me comfortable and fills me with such a sense of contentment.  My future husband will likely want to murder me someday, since I insist on having copies of old books I can get for free on my Kindle.  I will read almost anything.  I am a hopeless romantic, but if you hand me a romance novel, it had better be well written and actually have a story line.  I'm not into bodice rippers at all, but Pride & Prejudice?  Oh yes, that is Romance.  I just don't freely admit in my real life that I secretly love Gena Showalter, or that I really did like 50 Shades of Grey. 

So, how did I actually become a book whore?  It started freshman year, reading for class and then taking breaks to read for pleasure.  I would switch back and forth incessantly, and it really wasn't a good habit to have, as I usually ended up skimming course material in order to get back to whatever fantasy novel I was currently devouring.  Sophomore year changed minorly, in that I met my best friend--she and I studied together constantly and she always cajoled me into actually studying properly, though we often forsook studying in favor of constant Scrabble rematches at our local coffee place, the Magnolia House.  There were a few books I actually really got into that were course related, and so I would go back and forth with my fantasy novels on a constant basis.  Factor in the speed at which I finished books and also the money spent on books, Sarah coined me a book whore.  Of course, she meant herself as well.  Ring, ring, pot calling kettle.

Today, I am much the same, except during my junior year at University of Texas at Tyler, I ended up with some of the best teachers I have ever had in my entire life.  My Classical literature teacher, who still helps me today with deciding on coursework to finish my degree, gave me a love of Greek tragedies, though I still favor fantasy novels.  I had a modern literature teacher with a love of J.R.R. Tolkien (it also helped that the movies had recently come out and I finished the books before seeing each movie).  My Victorian literature professor was obsessed with Oscar Wilde.  A quirky Old & Middle English professor that made me actually enjoy trudging through The Pearl, Sir Orfeo, Sir Gawain & the Green Knight and Chaucer.  And a Romantic literature professor who introduced me to Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters (I prefer Charlotte, by the way).  Thus, I was inducted into proper English novels and have developed a liking for poetry (my specific favorites are The Windhover, and The Collar).

I love a good movie, a good video game and I work out sporadically.  I've picked up a taste for traveling and also for very expensive loose leaf tea (thanks, Ryan).  Also, for expensive rye whiskey (a rare indulgence for a girl who's broke and such a lightweight).  I like gardening, though I currently don't garden.  I collect quotes and scarves from all over the world.  So far, I have purchased one in Mexico, a pretty raw silk number. And two from wherever Sarah got them from--Malaysia and Cambodia, I think?  I love to bake and I love to eat.  I'd love to be a writer, but I am not nearly brave enough to finish anything, though I think some of my ideas have some potential.  Maybe some day.  I'm looking to be a teacher, or perhaps working for a publisher--that would be a dream come true.  I'm a kid at heart--nothing better than watching Scooby Doo on a Saturday morning and having breakfast in bed before a trip to the zoo.

Over the past several years, I've developed a sincere love for science fiction, be it television, movies or books.  I re-watch Firefly and Serenity regularly.  It is almost a monthly staple--any time I am having a tough time, I start watching the series again, and it just turns into a week long thing.  I have a multitude of fictional loves--some of them good, some of them evil.  Richard III is a clever, clever bastard and I just cannot help myself.  I dream of having a Darcy or a Rochester of my very own (the wealth isn't the important part, the character of each...  well, character is what I adore).  Malcom Reynolds is a favourite, as are many others.  I'm still searching for the perfect combination of all of those fictional characters.  

So, in a nutshell, that's me.  I'm a girl of many talents, interests and voracious appetite when it comes to good books, good food and good conversation.