Reading hungrily (Jennifer R. Hubbard)

Our assignment this month is to talk about how we read.

I read the way people eat: for nourishment, for pleasure, for life. I read every day.

I read on the train, in bed, on the porch, and when eating alone.

I read for connection, insight, inspiration. I read to be educated, shaken up. I read to be comforted or amused. I read to see what other books are out there, and how other authors approach their stories.

I visit imaginary worlds. I speculate on what the characters should have done, and what happened to them after the book ended, and why they acted the way they did. I revisit old favorites. I pile up new books in nearly every room of my house. I smell the pages and open the bindings carefully so as not to crack the spines. I download books to my e-reading app, though I mostly read from paper.

I can call to mind the covers and illustrations from books I read as a child, decades ago.

I have strong opinions on what the characters look like and how they sound and where they should have ended up. Sometimes I mentally edit the writer's words, and sometimes I am simply lost in admiration.

I devour books; I savor them; I nibble at them; I swallow them whole.

I was a reader before I was a writer, and will remain a reader as long as my brain is able to make sense of stories.