Book Club Thursday: What Does Reading Mean to You?

This week we have a wonderful topic to talk about for out Book Club Thursday. We are talking about what does reading mean to you...

We all read for many different reasons, some of us read to learn, others to relax and to lose ourselves for a little while. 

I believe I do all the above. I started reading when I was a kid. I saw my aunt reading and wanted to be just like her so I started reading. I can't tell you how grateful I am to her. She opened up my world to places and worlds I could never go to any other way. 

She would bring me books and I'd read them and we'd talk about them and have a bonding moment. 

I've had many bonding moments over books and reading. If you follow me then you know I'm a huge romance reader. I love books with happy endings. They don't have to be in your face..."marriage"...but they do have to leave you with the idea of togetherness. 

Other then my aunt, my sister is another important person in my reading world. I can remember when we were very young teenagers...A LONG TIME AGO...and our mother would bring us Harlequin romances from a woman she worked with and we'd lay in our beds and read all night long and have to lie to our mother that we weren't up all night. It was summer so she let the lie slip by.   

My world of reading didn't end there. As I grew older and my own child grew she became a reader, now she doesn't read romance like I do, nor does my nephew, but they along with myself, still hold a love of reading. My niece on the other hand loves reading romance and we have so much to talk about. We share books...I buy them and she reads them...a love sitting around talking about which characters we love or don't. We've also just recently sucked in my sister-in-law who is now reading paranormal romance. It's wonderful to have a whole family that reads. It's a common thread we all share. 

It wasn't only family that I shared my love of reading with. There has been other mothers at my daughters school and I even for  a long time worked in a used book store and got to spend hours doing what I loved. Reading also gave me my two best friends. Our love of reading has bloomed into a fifteen year plus friendship. With said friends I've traveled hours to do book related things with. We've gone to Nora Roberts book signing for a weekend and Lori Foster Reader Weekend, each year at least two of us goes to the Romantic Times Convention and have gone to a ton of book signings together.  We can and have talked hours about books. For over ten years we've been in a book club together and last year started our Book Club Thursday on our blogs. 

So as you can see, reading is like breathing to me. I can't tell you how close its brought me to some very special people in my life and how many new ones I've met. I would sooner stop eating then I would put down my book. 

We would love to hear how reading has impacted your life. Don't forget to stop by my fellow Book Club Thursday Bloggers and she what they had to say. 

Born to Read Books: Cyndi

The Many Faces of Romance: Karen

Next week, July 31st, we will be reviewing First to Burn by Anna Richland. Please stop by!