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I know many people who invent words. Just last week my brain couldn't decide if it wanted to stay dramatically or drastically and "dramastically" ended up coming out of my mouth. I don't know anyone who invented their own holiday but that's what Alba from Writer's Lake did when she invented Bring a Book to Bed Day. You can celebrate with her on February 23.
I read a lot in bed. I try to squeeze in at least a few pages at the end of my day. Reading books is important to me and it's my way of squeezing in a few minutes of me time. It also helps mark the end of my day - the point where I'm supposed to stop thinking about work, life and when on earth I'm going to get around to doing laundry and just relax and unwind. I keep a few different books by my bed so that I don't end up reading something too heavy at the end of a long hard day. My stack rotates pretty slowly these days but it never really gets smaller. An extra day off helped aredden knock one off that stand.
This morning I used some of that stolen time to read a book that has been waiting on my nightstand for months. Incantation by Alice Hoffman. I picked this book when shopping the book fair at one of my schools this past fall. I knew from reading other Alice Hoffman books that this book would make me think. I was not wrong. Even though I was able to read the book in a short amount of time, I think it will be with me, making me think, for many days to come.
Courtney at Word Perv apparently has a nightstand system of reading that is similar to mine.
[...] there’s the books which reside on my nightstand (yes, I am reading them all at once and will pick up the one I’m in the mood for at that moment).
Of course, there are lots of us who started reading in bed as children. Sometimes these simple memories are the most treasured.
Growing up, my mom loved us kids dearly but did not believe in spoiling us. She is of true pioneer stock and somehow has a pain threshold to match which none of us kids inherited. But when one of us 5 kids got truly sick, Mom turned on the sympathy like crazy. I would eat saltine crackers and drink hot lemonade and she would read me books in bed under a "tent" of sheets.
Biding My Time
Reading is an investment. As Heather points out her in post on intense reading we can make a very emotional investment in books. And sometimes our bed is the best place for that to happen.
I remember finishing a book and bawling on the top of my bed for a long time and not being able to breathe.
I tend to file books like that into the "books that knock me on my ass" category. I had one of those in November - I didn't pick up another book for a full week because I couldn't move past that one. I didn't read that one in bed but I should have.
Will you be joining the Books in Bed Day? What will you be reading?
Contributing Editor Sassymonkey blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
