Once Upon a Time

I stumbled across an old PSA from the 80s the other day featuring the lovable O.G. Readmore. This literate cat admonished us kids to pick up a book during Saturday morning cartoons. And I did read as a kid - and was usually one of the first to meet all the requirements of Book-It or the library summer reading program.


My tendency to want to read has waxed and waned through college and grad school when it became a chore. But before that, I read voraciously, sometimes reading 100 books during the summer. Of late, I've picked up the habit again and have wanted to do nothing but read the past couple of weekends. I just finished up a trilogy of books - although admittedly I accidentally read the third one first. After a hiatus from reading, I'd forgotten what it was like to get so lost in a book that you forget where you are. That the peal of siren or the ring of the phone can jar you back to reality and you find yourself surprised that you're not in the Colorado territory circa 1880.

And I'd forgotten how sad it can sometimes be to finish a good book like that - the disappointment of bidding adieu to all the characters in the neat little world that you've inhabited for some hours. I always thought that the end of The Princess Bride characterized that well. Fred Savage looking at Peter Falk and asking "Can we read it again tomorrow, Grandpa?" I'd love to read again tomorrow. But as I told J., I'll be knee-deep in my own filth if I don't clean this house.