The Magic of Reading

Hi new friends!

I am really excited to start this new blog. As I said in my 'About Me' section, I love to read and I like discussing what I have read.

I really don't dig Kindle's or other electronic reading devices. I love the feel and experience that comes with reading a book the way people have for hundreds of years. (Call me old fashioned, that's ok.)

However, I know it's 2011 and I DO have an iPhone, so from time to time I do utilize the Kindle App. (Mostly because it gives me something to do on the train. That is, when I am taking a break from improving my Global Scores on Angry Birds: Seasons)

Anywho, when I was a kid I will admit, reading was a tough thing for me to accomplish. It's not that I didn't want to read, I just didn't have the patience to do it. I would go to the book store and pick out a book. At home we had Walden's in the mall, until Borders took over... look how that has changed. Oh yeah, and let's be real, my decisions were highly based on the cover art. I would always be really excited to rush home and begin reading my new book. There was only one problem. I had a nasty habit of beginning the book and then somewhere half way through I would stop. Most of the times it had little reflection on the quality of the book. I would simply stop reading it. Soon the book would find itself being carried to and fro in my backpack with absolutely no purpose. It would inevitably make it to a shelf where it would undoubtably begin to collect dust and slowly fade to nothing. I like to think those books faced the same fate as Wheezie the singing Penguin in Toy Story 2.

How did you become such a book lover you ask?

Alright, I know it's cliche and I know everyone basically says the same thing - but it's the truth. The changing factor for me was ... (Insert drum roll) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. (I know what you're thinking - typical. But honestly I don't care cause I will profess it until the day I die.)

I remember my sister bought my younger brother a copy of Sorcerer's Stone for his birthday and it soon saw the same fate as many other books we both should have been reading. But for some reason I really wanted to read the book. Probably because most kids I knew were reading it and because there was a movie coming out soon. For once in my life i was determined to read the book before I saw the movie. Everyone said the book is ALWAYS better, so I wanted to put that to the test.

I sat down and began to read the first pages of J.K. Rowling's amazing novel. I would be lying if I told you it instantly changed my life. (NOW THAT'S CLICHE!) However, I was very intrigued and continued to read the book. I was very happy to find that I not only was able to finish the book I wanted to read it again! ME. The kid who had sent so many books to the shelf of retirement when they still hadn't been used to their fullest potential. ME. The kid who, when shopping the Scholastic Catalogue, was more interested in buying the Star Wars card games over any book.

So, what did I do? I read it again. The second time around was just as, if not more magical than the first, not only because of the fantastical world of Hogwarts and Diagon Alley, but also because I had read the book in a weekend. Now that's what I call magic! If I ever finished a book it would take me weeks, now I was finishing one in two days!

My mom must have seen how much that book excited me for she did a wonderful thing and went out and bought the sequels; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This was magical in itself, for in my house we grew up on chores and allowances. If you received a gift and it wasn't your birthday or Christmas, you did something really awesome to make your parent proud. I guess my mom really liked seeing me focused on doing something. Hell, maybe she just wanted to do something nice for me. Boy did she do something nice, she had no idea the obsession she was helping to create.

After that I became one of the thousands and then millions of kids who went to their local Borders and waited until midnight to a get their hands on a copy of the next HP. I dressed up as Harry for Halloween. I made my grandma knit a Gryffindor scarf for my Christmas gift (And then made her make me a second one when they changed the look in the third movie). I even crashed the 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' NY premiere (but that's a story for another post.) And yes, I would go in my backyard, pick up a twig and make it my official wand (Hand crafted, with a unicorn hair core of course.)

Like so many other people of my generation I am a Potterhead and I am not only extremely proud I am very grateful. Ms. Rowling's incredible books helped me realize that there is a plethora of wonder, heartache, happiness and life just waiting to be discovered in so many different books. Here is where I will share my thoughts, here is where I will share the magic of reading.