Where Do You Read?

Reading is escape. Everyone has times in their life when they want to be distracted or entertained. Sometimes, the problem can be escaping to somewhere you can concentrate on reading.

When I was a child, I would read under the lamp behind our sofa. I was so quiet and hidden, I became invisible, and missed my bedtime curfew. Videogames beep, but books are silent. When my parents finally noticed me, I was sent to bed. There I huddled under the covers with my book and a torch. This was an extra source of warmth in winter, but tricky in summer, when I needed a snorkel for breathing.

Another favourite place to read was halfway up our huge jacaranda tree. Next-door’s mulberry tree too - it was a leafy cave, and very handy when hunger nudged. That no doubt explains purple stains on some of my childhood books.

When my son was a toddler, I would take my book to the littlest room in the house, and be “vewy, vewy qwiet…” Perhaps it was the closed door that gave me away? When I found him under my bed reading one day, I realized the wheel had turned full circle, and rejoiced that we shared the same reading gene.

I love that reading is so portable. Print books can be stuffed into backpacks, audio books take up very little physical room, and several e-books can fit into a pocket-sized space. I always have something to read packed in my bag, even for a short trip to the store. When I go on holiday, my packing order is books: first; clothes: if I remember. That portability has enabled me to read in planes, trains and automobiles, on the Great Wall of China, and once while resisting anaesthetic before an operation.

If you asked me today to name my favourite place to read, I would smile and say, "Anyplace." I quickly become oblivious to my surroundings and am transported to a place with a "... view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries." (A.C.Grayling) 

In short, I don't care where I read. But I'm eternally grateful that I have the glorious gift of reading.

Where do you read?

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/2967018710/