Clinging to an Old Love

I confess; I’ve been spending a lot of time with an old love. This month alone, we’ve traveled from Afghanistan to Paris, sailed along the Carolina coast, danced in Philadelphia, and searched my soul. Now, we’ve begun to study a kind of architecture as we head to the Cascade Mountains. My old love is exciting, don’t you think?

In other words, I’ve been reading more than usual. If you click here, you’ll see how much time I’ve spent with that old love already this month. And I’ll increase that before August is over. Some of you may read that much every month—or in a week—but it’s a rarity for me because I’m usually too busy with some fiction writing or related activity to read more than one book a month.

Obviously, I’m writing far less at the moment. I completed one full paragraph the other day. But that’s beside the point of this post. I’m talking about other writers’ books.

Not every book I open makes it to a section on my I Read page. Descriptions can be more exciting than the book, I’ve found, so if I start a book and it doesn’t interest me, I stop reading. Since I don’t waste precious reading time, if I read a book to the end that means I’d give it at least a 3-star rating. Most, or maybe all, of the books listed on my page I’d rate four or five stars.

Often, I read with my editor’s hat on—sometimes on purpose. This time I’m just enjoying the experience. I don’t know how long my Word files may gather dust. I have a wealth of books waiting in the wings. But you can’t write if you don’t read, so at least I have one half of that equation covered.

Where has your love taken you recently?