George Eastman House Collection via FlickrI loved reading as a child and summers were the best for reading marathons. I recall reading for many summers in tents that I'd constructed out of lawn chairs, folded upwards and covered with floral beach towels. My mother would soak up the sun and work on the perfect tan, while I would absorb adventures and maintain my librarian's bisque pallor. But, the highlight of every summer was when my Grandpa would take me to the public library's annual book sale, which was held under a huge tent next to the library, and I would load up on several months' worth of books.
On road trips to Florida with my Grandpa and Mom in my mother's vintage, baby blue, Dodge 440, I would read Nancy Drew Mysteries in the gigantic back seat. I loved when we stopped at used book stores, where I picked out new (to me) Nancy Drews for the road ahead. (And, let me tell you as an aside, there was no air conditioning in that old car that we drove from Pennsylvania to Florida in the late 1970s or early 1980s. How did we do it? Kids nowadays, now that I sound old just by saying that, ride in SUVs with air conditioning and DVD players.)
When I was in grade school, I actually got yelled at for reading too much. You see, my favorite recess activity was curling up on the back steps of my school and reading a book. I can still see myself there, sitting on blue-green artificial grass carpet by the orange-red brick of the school building, which has long been torn down. I had done this for years, countless recesses, when suddenly, some ridiculous teacher decreed that I had to move from the stairs and go and play with someone. In, like, 8th grade. Well, it made no difference whether girls sat on the stairs or gathered in a group by the building wall, because girls didn't really play at recess, they gossipped, while boys played some fierce competitive ball-tossing game. Oh, what a terrible waste of my reading time!
In high school, I read too much. I was forced to read from seemingly random required reading lists in unnaturally short time periods. I managed to read the books, write the essays and still miss questions on quizzes, designed to prove that you actually read the book, when there was no possible way I'd remember the color of the sock on page 357 of one of the three books I'd been reading that week. Reading became rather frustrating.
College brought more required reading and reading became more of a chore than a hobby.
Since graduating from college, my reading habits have fluctuated. Due to work and responsibilities, I haven't read as much as I'd like. I've studied film for a screenwriting classes and watched more television as a way to decompress and escape from stress and depression. I've been more likely to read a book on an airplane, than in bed. But, I've also worked in a major chain book store, attended publishing school, kept up with the book industry, bought and acquired books, visited new and used book stores, and attended Book Expo America. And, I'd definitely like to pick up the pace with reading.
So, back to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I'm late to jump on the bandwagon. It was published by Knopf in the US in 2008. I've seen it in stores several times and been attracted to it because of the unique name and title. But, I never bought it, much less read it. Until now. It's a mystery with a female investigator. As a Nancy Drew reader, I'm all about that.
