Reading Makes Me Happy

I have a degree in English, with an emphasis in writing. I took several different types of writing classes because I didn't want to chain myself down to one genre. Business writing, novels, short stories, poetry, research writing, and technical writing were among the many different classes. I think because of the varied writing styles I studied I am drawn to many different genres for my reading as well.

When we moved into our new house, the first book I could find not packed away was Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs (the Temperance Brennan series from which the t.v. show Bones is derived). It is an intense novel with lots of intrigue, suspense, horrific real atrocities, and even some hot romance.

My fabulous husband JR gave me the book as a gift a while ago, and I read a chapter or two before I became too busy to sit down and finish it. With the new house, I decided to designate a place to read and devote just a little time each week. Having finished that first book (very proudly in only a few weeks), I was eager to pick up another.

Sticking with the plan of finding whatever was the easiest book to get to (since the book cases and boxes and boxes of books are not yet completely unpacked), I reached in and pulled out Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Having watched the mini-series long ago and reading the books as a child, I find this re-reading quite fulfilling.

It is a new experience to read a childhood book as an adult. The stories mean something completely different. I see things in the characters I never realized existed before. My own life experiences relate in new ways to the development of the story.

I am about one-third of my way through Anne of Green Gables. I wonder what magnificent find I will pull out the box next...