A life of reading

I've been wanting to write on the first prompt since the beginning of the semester.

I read all sorts of things. I read novels, historical non-fiction, blogs, the news, and magazines. I mostly read for content, though that does not apply so much to novels. When I look for a history book to read, I scan for topics that interest me, such as English history, World War II, US history, German history, or biographies of historical figures that intrigue me. When picking out a novel, I have a harder time. I'm definitely guilty of judging a book by its cover, unless it has been specifically recommended to me. While the list of history books I've read regularly expands with time, the list of novels expands much more slowly. I find myself reading the same few books, such as The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, the Harry Potter books, and a few others, over and over again. Currently, though, I am reading a book entitled Possession by A.S. Byatt, who I'd never heard of before a friend suggested it to me. I'm glad I picked it up.

As far as blogs go, I read mostly hockey blogs and participate in the running dialogue about the NHL. I'm also interested in technology and subscribe via Google Reader to a number of tech blogs. I have folder titles ranging from "christian" to "music" to "politics" to "travel." Most of those are for content rather than quality of writing, though there are a few which stand out as excellently-written. I never start or end my day without reading at least some of these.

I titled this post "A life of reading," because it describes me. Reading is my favorite activity and when I don't have time for it, I feel stressed, rushed, and out-of-sync. Here at the end of my busiest semester ever, one where I had little time to read what I wanted to read, I understand why it was so tough.