A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.

First off, I want to thank my twitter lovely, Rachel, for tweeting this quote this morning:

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." 

While I was searching for titles to name today's blog post, I thought back to what Rachel tweeted this morning and PERFECTION!  So yeah, today's topic is books.

Can I have a room in my house like this PLEASE?!?

A little background on how I came to love them.  I grew up on Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts books.  For as long as I can remember, my mom has always had a book on her nightstand.  There is something about watching someone read that immediately draws you in.  Questions immediately start floating through your mind, "What are they reading? What are the characters like? What is going on in the story?  Are vampires taking over a small town called Forks, Washington?  Is a simple girl's touch killing the people around her?" <---maybe you don't really think about those last two questions, but they are references to some of my favorite books.  Anyway, back to the point.  When I was in 6th grade, my homeroom teacher had a mini library in our classroom.  I don't know if any of you did AR (Accelerated Reading) but that was a BIG thing at our school.  Basically you chose a book off a list, read it, then took a test on it.  I'm not lying when I say, I would literally check out a book one day and then turn it back in the next.  Not because I read it, but because I could never find one I liked.  Then this book happened:

That is the first book I remember reading that I loved.  And then something clicked.  I wanted to know more.  I wanted to jump into these other worlds and be consumed by them.  So here's where my mom comes in. My mom LOVED Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts books.  I'm pretty sure she has read every single one.  After I started reading a few, I very quickly found myself in our local library trying to find the latest trashy romance novel to read.  Hey, we've got to start somewhere right? Also, I'm pretty sure my mother would die of embarrassment if she knew I referred to them as "those trashy romance novels."

I keep getting sidetracked as I write this.  Something you will quickly learn about me is that when I write, my thoughts tend to be all over the place.  My apologies in advance.  Back to the point...okay, focus J.  In early 2009 I was introduced to Twilight.  When the movie first came out in November 2008, I repelled it with everything I had.  I was a HUGE Buffy/Angel fan, and I felt like Twilight was trying to impose on the fictional vampire world I knew.  Long story short, I eventually caved and rented the movie.  WOAH.  Something that's hard to put in words happened.  Yes, I was a movie before book kinda girl when it came to this series.  So after watching the movie, I quickly got my hands on the books.  Like a lot of people with this series, I got sucked in...hard and fast. <---TWSS.  Whoops, sorry about that.  Couldn't resist.

THOSE, those were the books that made me fall in love with reading again.

not saying that they are great works of literature by any means, but still, they have this power over you that's unexplainable

Ever since then, I have craved having a book with me at all times.  Barnes & Noble has quickly become one of my favorite places in the world.  In early January, I discovered Goodreads.  If you've never been to that site and you love to read, GO.NOW. --->  Goodreads

Okay, I think I'm finally about to make the point that I've been trying to do for about 4 paragraphs now.  Kate.  I got introduced to this lovely woman a while back ago via Twitter.  If you don't know her, you should.  Seriously, go meet her now.  She is my cute little Canadian that loves to say "Ma Belle" in pretty much the loveliest voice ever.  Two other very important things about Kate...she loves coffee and books.  RIGHT?!?!? I told you you would love her.  She is constantly reading.  And when I say constantly, I mean she's read 3 books in the time that I'm on page 50 of book 1.  So if you are ever in need of a good book recommendation, go follow her twitter handle @imlostinabook  She also has an awesome blog where she discusses the latest book she's obsessed with.  The blog link is over in my sidebar under "blogs I follow." --> I'm Lost in a Book Somewhere

Apologies if I rambled too much.  In all fairness, I did warn you.  ;-)

xoxo 'till next time!