Books

When I was still in high school, I used to live for books. I used to devour books. I used to read one book after the other. I'd read at night, in my bed, under the covers, with a flashlight. And whenever my father wanted to punish me, believe it or not, he'd forbid me from reading books.

No, I wasn't a nerd, but I just loved reading anything and everything.

Oh how things have changed! I now barely read, and although I try to make the effort to read a book once in a while, and while I do enjoy going to bookstores and buying books, I have gotten into the horrible habit of starting books and never finishing them...

It first started in university, where a busier social life, and the pressure of 5 courses a semester meant that I didn't read as often as I wanted to.

But then, when I started work in Montreal, having to commute around 40 minutes every day meant that I had the perfect opportunity to catch up on some reading in the metro and on the bus . This has obviously all changed here now that I drive myself to work.

I also blame the Internet for my lack of reading. I browse through so many websites and articles during the day, that I really don't have the energy and don't feel the need to read books at all...

And let's not forget blogging....oh my...blogging has opened up a whole new can of worms! Now that I've become a blog addict, I spend a LOT of time I could have spent on a good book catching up on the many blogs I enjoy reading instead.

And I am somewhat of a TV fan too....I just like coming home from work, and doing something that doesn't require any more of my brain cells...And with my recent obsession of series DVD's, I'd much rather fall asleep to an episode of 24 than to a book.

It's really sad, when you think of it....I have learned so much from books and it's in part thanks to books that was able to become fluent in French and English. And there are so many amazing books out there, I really feel like I'm missing out.

So...with the resolution of making more of an effort to read more books, here's a question to my (few) readers out there: if you were to recommend one book, just one all-time favourite book of yours, the kind of book you'd want to have with you if were stranded on a desert island, which book would it be?