early to bed, early to rise...

I have always been a reader. I blame this on my mom, who can blame it on my grandpa. My mom is the type of person who reads during movies and family card games, and my grandpa has given most of his house over to his book collection. Basically, I didn't have a chance.

Somewhere in college, I stopped reading as much. I blame this on actually having to study (which I didn't have to do in high school). During the summers I would visit the library pretty regularly, but it was just too hard during the school year.

I have read off and on since then, but it's still pretty sporadic. I blame this on three main issues:
1. After reading all day at work, it's really hard to motivate myself to do more of it at home. Which is why I usually end up watching something really mindless, like Friends reruns.
2. I become really emotionally involved in what I read. If it's a teenage angst book (think Harry Potter 5), I end up wanting to yell at everyone that they just don't understand. If it's a romance, I come out all mushy. The first time I read Ender's Game, I spent half the night sitting in bed trying to wrap my head around the story and creating subplots and what if scenarios. I also have vivid memories of my eighth grade self becoming so involved in a story that my friends stole my book so I would stop talking to the characters (out loud).
3. I have a really hard time stopping once I start. I finished the last Harry Potter book by noon the day it came out. I have walked home from school/work while reading. I have closed myself in my room, ignoring calls to dinner or social activies, until the book is over. I have stayed up until 4 a.m. just to find out whodunit.

Issues 2 and 3 came to a head this week. I borrowed the book Twilight from a friend. She warned me that I wouldn't be able to put it down, and she was right. I started Tuesday on the plane. Wednesday I stayed up until almost 2 a.m. to finish. By 1:30 a.m. Friday, I was done with the sequel too. And even though I would be absolutely exhausted when I finally closed the book each night, my mind wouldn't shut off. I just kept going over the book in my mind. Could Edward really be as hot as Bella thought he was? Did she really want to become a vampire? What would it be like to live forever?

All of which is my explanation for why I fell asleep at 6:30 p.m. last night and didn't get up until 6:30 a.m. today.