I Love... Getting Lost in a Good Book!

I think this post will adequately cover Saturday and Sunday as well since I have spent a large portion of the weekend reading and thus being lost in two very good stories.

I find one of the only times I can completely switch off the outside world is when I am reading. Sometimes I will read a book that I love so much, Interview With The Vampire is a great example of this, that it does not matter where I am I can become completely absorbed in it. Even to the point where, when I stop reading, I am shocked to find myself still in the same spot that I was when I started. When I read Interview With The Vampire I was working in a music shop and I ate my lunch every day in the staff room. One day I was so absorbed in the story that I 'woke up' from reading and it took a couple of seconds for me to figure out where I was! That's when you know you're really reading something very special to you that you will really enjoy.

I am currently reading 4 books, 2 ficton and 2 non-fiction. They are Charlie Brooker's Dawn of the Dumb, Cesar Millan's Be The Pack Leader, Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn and Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass.

I find Charlie Brooker completely hilarious as he expresses the way so many people I know feel about the world, just general hatred and distaste for everything that he comes across, but he can accept when he likes something so you know he's not just slagging off the world for the sake of a cheap laugh, he does genuinely hate everyone and most everything in it. His book, although very amusing and reassuring, convincing me as it does that I am not alone in my negativity, goes against what I'm trying to achieve with this blog and so I have put it away to be read when I can cheerfully disagree with his opinions!

The Cesar Millan book was bought to help me and my boyfriend cope with our newest addition, a one year old Jack Russell Terrier dog that we adopted from my boyfriend's parents when they couldn't cope with him anymore. His name is Arthur and he is just about the sweetest little thing that I have ever owned/taken care of/loved. My in-laws had him from a puppy and I pretty much loved and coveted him on sight so it was really great for both us and them when they asked us to adopt him - they still get to see him and have him for holidays and we got the dog we'd both wanted for some time. The only problem is that he was pulling on the lead really badly and we could not make him stop. I thought that the Cesar Millan book would be a God send as I love his show, Dog Whisperer, and I wanted to have a sort of spiritual connection with the dog. Turns out all he needed was a nose collar and he's completely fine now! So I haven't really finished reading Cesar, convinced as I am that my dog is a perfect angel and I need know no more about dog psychology!

The first of the fiction books that I started was Philip Pullman's Amber Spyglass, the last book in the His Dark Materials trilogy. I don't normally go in for fantasy type books as I find them hard to visualise and so can't relate to the characters. I had a hell of a job figuring out what an elf or an ork looked like until Peter Jackson so kindly demonstrated it. So I didn't think I'd enjoy the Philip Pullman books but I was persuaded to read them by a friend and I was hooked. The Northern Lights has to be one of the best books I have ever read and, even though the Subtle Knife wasn't as good and so was a bit disappointing I stuck with it and am loving the Amber Spyglass. The only problem I have with trilogies and other serialised stories is that I miss them so much when they're finished.

The final book that I'm reading is a loaner from a friend and is Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer. I have to admit that I'm not enjoying this book as much as I enjoyed the previous 3, which were all examples of books I completely got lost in, I could lie in the bath reading them until the water was freezing, but this one is not gripping me as much. Saying that I have managed to read half of it in one weekend and it's a thick book so I must be enjoying it. I'm hoping it gets a bit better as it's a bit slow and drawn out at the moment.

So, in summary, reading is one of my favourite things!...