I have a lot of downtime these days which is great. I was looking forward to it; especially to hours and hours of reading. Downtime also means daydreaming which is actually pretty therapeutic to me. More than sitting on the magic couch in my living room, a book in hand while staring at my bookshelves. I found that a lot of my daydreams have something to do with books. [For some reason I also daydream about monkeys, honey, tea, popcorn and “Call me Ishmael“]
As a reader, I of course spend a lot of time at bookstores and read whatever I get my hands on. If a person doesn’t understand my passion, they also don’t get how good books smell. Or how happy I am if I can attend a public reading of one of my favorite authors (Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie, David Sedaris are some of the highlights when I was in New York) and even get my book signed or have a little chat with them afterwards.
I always thought how amazing it would be to run into an author while I am actually reading their book. I remember a time last summer when I saw a Margaret Atwood lookalike close to where I live thinking about for hours what I would tell and ask her. Then I realized it was actually not her when I saw the same woman again on the bus. Sitting on a bus, reading Atwood while she gets on the bus would be pretty neat though. However, would she ever take public transportation?
I am always dreaming to work with books all day and owning a vintage, used books store. Language, writing and reading somewhat all works together so I reckon I am on a good track after all. I cannot really see anything but books in my future. I mean, I know I would never get bored while working with books. Additionally, wouldn’t it be great to have unlimited access to books or to purchase and then the shelf space to keep them all? I guess, this is the ultimate bookworm struggle because it is also not the same to be able to borrow books at the university/library for example but to physically own the copies while at the same time running out of bookshelf space. What a problem, right? Books are literally piling up at my house so daydreaming about a place big enough to have a reading room would be sweet.
It happened to me once or twice so far that I actually caught someone in public who read the exact same book than I was and we spoke about it because I approached the person. I usually just asked why they read this particular book while showing them the my copy. Hours of conversations and coffee followed. With both people I am still in touch on Facebook which is so sweet. We have some sort of bookclub as well talking here and there about what we currently read and what we could/would recommend.
Since I read so much, it is hard to remember details of certain books. I have my favorite books that I reread ten million times and I remember every single bit of the plot but then again, others, not so much. I wish I could be able to remember a lot more of the books that I read. Sometimes I finish one book and start the next one right away and at least read ten pages or so. It is difficult to keep track indeed. Sometimes, reading this voraciously has its downfalls. It is just difficult to remember things or keep track of names, events, and plots. Are those “booknerdproblems”?
You know what is under the Christmas tree for me? About ten books from my favorite bookstore in Coburg – Riemann! And this is it. All I get for Christmas is books and I am truly happy. <3
Merry Christmas to you all. Thank you for reading my blog.
