Why Won't Janie Read?

As an only child on vacation with my mom and dad, I had the whole back seat to myself as we drove hundreds of miles.  We never flew, because we never had flown and because my dad loved cars and driving.  One of the foot wells in the back of the car would contain at least a dozen library books, and I  would routinely finish reading them during the week of the trip, undoubtedly missing a fair amount of scenery in the process.  When we returned home and returned the books, I would check out some more, and so on and so on.

At some point early in my adult life, I abandoned the library and started buying books--I suspect this was when the Crown Bookstore chain--the first to popularize the sale of discount bestsellers--opened up in the Washington, DC, area.  At a certain point, I continued to buy books, but I stopped reading most of them.  I now read less than a dozen in a year.  I think the main benefit for me in getting an iPad is that the books I buy but don't read will no longer take up space and gather dust.

And speaking of gathering dust, I just filled three boxes with some of my Dad's books, most of which remain on the shelves he built that span a wall in the basement of his house in Terre Haute.  Most of the books I boxed today were biographies of American Presidents or books on US foreign policy.  I know I will never read any of them, but my dad read them all.  He remained a voracious reader until macular degeneration's toll on his eyesight slowed him down about a year before he died at 88.

Reading wasn't my dad's only hobby or occupation.  He owned and maintained rental property.  He did a considerable amount of plumping, carpentry, and woodworking, including finishing the attic and basement of the house in Terre Haute.  He was political science professor until he retired at 65.  But he always found time to read.

So what is my excuse for being such a slacker in the reading department?  Too much time on the computer playing Bejeweled Blitz?  I continue to buy.  I start to read.  I enjoy what I read.  Then I put the book down, and it collects dust.  Some times I think my brain has lost the plug-in for where the book is supposed to go.   Or the plug-in is loose, and the book falls out.  Perhaps the iPad is a better solution than I think.

The best excuse I can come up with is that I work too hard.  My eyes scan a lot of words when I work, and by the time I get home, they aren't willing to focus on words.  I challenge myself to read a few pages a night anyway, but by the time I finish playing Bejeweled Blitz, I'm tired, and a few pages equals three.  Maybe.  At current count I am in the process of reading six books.  I keep them handy in case the urge hits me.  The only one I'm confident I'll finish is Breaking Dawn--I've read the rest of the series and just wouldn't feel right going to the movie with out finishing the book.  Plus, all my other women friends have read it.  Maybe I need peer pressure to get me to finish the other five.