I think the best way to introduce myself is as a reader. I've grown up reading. Who knows what the first book I read was, but I remember starting kindergarten, seeing the other kids reading and thinking “Why are they bothering? They're mostly just pictures and it's boring.” There was a Return of the Jedi kids book, and I had no idea what I was looking at. Boring. But then, somewhere, somehow, something clicked. By the end of the year, I was an avid visitor of the library.
In second grade, I had such intense focus on what I was reading that I completely missed when the teacher called an end to free time; I just looked up from my book when she was already minutes into the next lesson. I had to sheepishly pop out from behind the book case and walk past her to take my seat. Luckily, there's no way a teacher could be mad at a seven-year old for reading.
In third grade, I figured out that not only did I read intensely, I read quickly. I surprised my teacher when I tore through a class-assignment book in an hour's reading time at school and asked her if there was more. Turns out, there was. That book was the first of John Christopher's Tripod trilogy- and the rest were in the school library. I devoured them. From there, it was on to Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, and pretty much anything on the Fantasy and Science-Fiction shelves (especially if it had horses or dragons on it). Some of it, I didn't understand; some of it, I tossed aside; and some of it I inhaled with a glorious lack of taste. Who knows how many peoples' glorified D&D campaigns I read! And oh, then there were the sci-fi tie-ins. My family indoctrinated me in the way of Star Trek early- so that was a shoo in. (Picard is the one, the only, true Captain. Sorry, Sisko and Janeway. Kirk has far too many STDs and too much arrogance- I kept wanting to smack him.) I came upon the Star Wars movies late (as of, oh, fourth grade), but the extended universe awaited me. I remember Michael Stackpole's Rogue Squadron. Lord of the Rings came maybe a year later, and that went down well, too. I am ridiculously fond of the epics.
Other kids had sports, or played with friends, or videogames – I had books. I always had books.
For me, reading is about the story. Caring about the characters, what happens, why it happens. Perhaps I'm not as deep as the people who enjoy untangling allegories and metaphors from their literature, or the ones who like grim, gritty endings and anti-heroes. (Grapes of Wrath and Catcher in the Rye are books I nearly threw at walls. Oh yes, I am cultured.) Call it escapism if you want, but I've always been fascinated by other worlds, other times, other possibilities- when a writer can create a world that is so different, but feels so real- that's something incredible to me. The best books suck you in and drag you down until the end, and that's how I like to read them- in one fell swoop. To me, good books are more immersive than movies; there's more depth to the plots and characters with less distractions. (Like, "Why are the teenagers in their thirties? No, really?" or "Yes, they just blew their budget on that explosion- no wonder the lead can't act.") A good book is like a good vacation spot- you just want to keep going back to visit it and forget the outside world awhile.
Which reminds me; I have a plane ride coming up. Time to dig out some favorites to keep me company!
