Pleasure Reading

First off, I've joined the twitter era! If you'd like to check out my personal twitter, follow me at @EliseyGC (I think that is how it works)! Now onto my post...

I have gotten into this bad habit lately of picking up a pencil when I'm reading a book. My english class at Virginia Tech, as well as my AP Literature class in High School, had me annotating nearly every sentence of books in order to do a 'critical analysis.' Should my pleasure reading really be about critically analyzing? No, but it is a habit I can't seem to break away from.

Not only do I search TOO hard to find meaning in whatever I'm reading, but I've recently started to read things that are more factual and do have a definite meaning. For example, I've been trying to read books such as "Buddha's Brain" or the "Gift of Fear." While I agree that these are wonderful and educational books to read, I read them back to back and never give myself time to read my summer romance novel or a book with an inspirational story.

I feel like I am "supposed" to read these books and become more scholarly because that is what my college-level schooling has pushed upon me. I feel that I have been pressured by the college atmosphere to appear a certain way, which sometimes, means reading a certain kind of book at a coffee shop; one with more "intellectual meaning." These pressures and reprogramming to annotate has rid me of the desire to read, which I have always loved to do.

I actually have a list of books to read, in order in which I am going to read them. This, however, is being torn down today. My love for reading shouldn't be measured on a list and it shouldn't be confined to what I think is expected of me! I should read what I want to read in the fashion that I want to depending on my mood.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with reading a Jodi Picoult book or one by Rowling. Pleasure novels still build your vocabulary, teach you social patters, give you insights on life, and leave you with ambitions, they just do it in a more subtle way.

So today, I'm putting all of my 'smart books' on the book shelf, for now, and putting my Jodi Picoult novels back on my night stand. It is time to start living happily and stop measuring my brain capacity. I will read what I want, when I want.

This is a pretty random post, huh?

Happy reading!

PS- I just finished rereading Eat,Pray,Love! I'm watching the movie now! Has anybody seen/read it? What are your thoughts?!