Ruling Passions

I have determined that among any obsessions I may have (and they are not many), reading a good book is high on the list! For a while Michelle, Wendy and I were devouring the classics one by one- kind of like an informal book club. In was in lieu of the formal education that we were craving...

So we began thus:
1. Robinson Crusoe
2. Invisible Man
3. Around the World in 80 Days

And then we branched off and began reading our own choices. Michelle suffered through Crime and Punishment (kudos!) and I through The Age of Innocence, among others. Then Michelle read The Count of Monte Cristo. I love the movie and really didn't feel like plodding through 1000+ pages of the same storyline, but finally convinced by Michelle that I had to read it, I picked up a copy from the library.

I started reading and couldn't stop! I was staying up until 1am every night just to get more reading time in! I did have a small crisis when I realized the copy I had borrowed from the library was only the 1st volume and I was almost done with it so I drove 7 miles to the closest library who had it in stock and then we were cool...

Discussing with my mother this inability to put books down, I find I come from a long line of "Oblivious of Everything Else Readers." When my mom was little and Grandma would be engrossed a book, she remembers more than one instance where she and her brother would ask if they could go play on the freeway and Grandma would absently say, "Hmm? Yeah... Sure... Have fun..." My mom is the same way. When she was a teenager, she would even put a towel in the crack of her door when she was reading until 3 or 4 a.m. so Grandpa Jack wouldn't see her light when he was up in the night (as he frequently is). My Grandpa, also, is very much the same way and has a difficult time restraining himself from his book- even with grandkids in the house, though he does make a valiant effort! So, evidently I am doomed to a love of reading and a lack of self-control in that area and had to read this one at marathon pace to finish all the thousand pages within the timeframe of my insatiable curiosity.

I was amazed to discover how different the book is, though! I still love the movie, but the book is so much better (as always). Should you read it? "Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles..." Okay no giants or monsters unless you count Caderousse... but everything else! Especially revenge!

Anyway, that's why I haven't blogged in a while - I have no will power when it comes to balancing life and good books...