Thankful for Books

Happy Day after Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday (those of you who, of course, celebrate said holiday) stuffing yourselves full of wonderful foods and hanging out with friends and family and loved ones. Perhaps you had a solitary Thanksgiving-- I hope you enjoyed the time relaxing, getting some quiet time. In any case, I hope the day was full for you; I certainly am thankful for all that God has given me.

Including this bizarre breakfast that I'm eating right now. Waffles and leftovers, including stuffing and corn pudding. No, it doesn't go together, but it's delicious, along with my huge mug of Earl Grey next to me.

And I'm thankful for books. Oh, how I'm thankful for books. Yesterday, after everyone had stuffed themselves silly (we did a Thanksgiving luncheon this time) we all lay/sat/stood around, talking, dozing, thinking. In my case, reading. I switched on and off between sleeping off the heavy meal and reading away, finally using this chance to catch up on my reading for-me rather than always, always for study. I've been in the middle of reading the Anne Rice book "The Mummy".

No, not the movie "The Mummy". This has no giant anubis armies or scarabs eating people. It's more delicious than that.

I always was an Anne Rice skeptic until my boyfriend started leaving the books around for me to find. I've  never been one for vampires, usually, as so many people portray them in what I find to be a disgusting or cliche manner. I'm not a fan of the vampire Lost Boys and I don't like Twilight. But I have enjoyed, thoroughly, other forms of Vampire tales-- like Moon Child, a movie by Hideto Takarai, or "Wildwood Dancing" by Juliet Marillier. The vampires in "Wildwood Dancing" are subtle. Moon Child is a gangster shoot-em-up-vampire story of epic proportions. No glittering romance here.

In any case, the introduction to the vampire novels by Anne Rice led, finally, to some of her other books; in this case, "The Mummy".

"The Mummy" is incredibly self-contained. As I said, no huge wars, no epic battles. It's a handful of characters trying to figure out what is happening to them and to their understanding of the world around them. When an immortal man, disguised as a mummy, awakens to walk the earth, the few humans privy to his secret must adjust their understanding of life and death, the past and the future...and make decisions that will affect their lives forever.

Sound good? Eh? Eh?

If you're a reader, no matter how busy life gets, you need, need, to make time for books. When I don't read, I get anxious, low, dull. My imagination doesn't get stretched like it needs to. I eat, breathe stories, new books and words. I soak them up like sunlight. And if I don't get them, I feel it physically in my bones, in my heart. Of course, like the image below, I could never turn all my books edible. I reread far too much to do that! And I'm greedy...I like to keep them around and enjoy my library. It hurts me that at the moment my library is boxed up in the attic...soon, in less than 6 months if everything works out, they'll be free...!

 

I was entranced by "The Mummy". I couldn't put it down. Many times I had to, simply because I had so much classwork or other work to do. But this Thanksgiving, I was thankful for books and the time to read them, and I polished that sucker off. It had an entirely satifsying ending, open-ended in some ways, and was exciting and intriguing all the way through.

But I can't tell you what happens, or I'd give it away!