Books changed me

 

Books changed me.
Who I was is not who I am.

I have always been a reader. I can remember through all of my years in school I had a book I was reading.  Something to entertain me. Maybe because my friends all had teachers in the family.  Maybe I was procrastinating my homework. Maybe I wanted an escape - even when I was little. I just have always liked to read. 

Can I look back on my life and see when it was - the change? I am not sure one thing changed me - more like a series of events. One large one is the KINDLE. I love my kindle! I can't say I always did though...  December 2010 I got my first Kindle. I HATED the thought of an ereader. Not to have a book to hold.  The smell of a crisp new book.  Nope.  Not reading on it. Darci was deep into perhaps her 3rd ereader by this time - just read it she said. TRY IT. December 2011 I read my first book on a Kindle.... and it was okay. Then I read another... and another. Perhaps I went on vacation and no longer had to pack a bag just for books. Maybe that changed me. Do you know how many books I had, at my FINGERTIPS? It was a dream. I had them all - with me - in my purse! A library of something to entertain me. 


Another significant change - book friends. Book friends changed me. Each one of you shaped me to the woman I am today. The conversations I had over coffee with Kelli. The late night chats I had with those first few girls I met on goodreads (AACKKK) - god did we giggle!  The girls that I get to run this blog with. My Goodreads Hawt Ladies.  So many fun times.  So many great conversations.  So many more books that I wouldn't have known about - if I didn't have my book friends. 
I think Fred says it best #BookFriendsAreThe BestFriends

The last change - Chronic pain.  I live with chronic pain now.  The pain treatments, the doctors, the tears... they could've been worse because it was books that helped through it all.  Books changed me.  They saved me a little everyday when I thought I couldn't live one more moment - books saved my soul.  Pain medication couldn't help.  Television couldn't distract me. Movies I couldn't drive to.  Books, books were always there (along with a friend, or two, to share them with).

I have been on goodreads a long time.  I have been able to track so many books that I have read. This past week I sent an email to my bookfriends - look what I read 10 years ago! It was fun to see where I have been... and let me tell you it has been a journey.  I never thought I would have read a book like Fifty Shades of Grey. GASP!  I couldn't believe people even wrote books with that topic.  Speed ahead a couple of years - now I read m/m (that is male/male romance) books and I enjoy them!  GASP.  Things I thought I would never read... I do.  Things I thought I would always enjoy, maybe I don't anymore. THAT is the great thing - Books changed me.  Who I was is not who I am.