Reading...

My love for reading is well known amongst my friends and family.  If I could, I would spend the rest of my life at a university; teaching by day and reading in a library or coffee shop by night. Unfortunately, I do not think my dream will ever come true. I've read most of the classics, ranging from Austen to Whitman with a little Conan Doyle, Shelley, Lewis, and Twain wrapped in nicely.  I've read a lot of the great philosophers: Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Thales, Augustine, Machiavelli, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche - to name a few. I have enjoyed a few Christian Authors like: Piper, Driscoll, Graham, Dekker, Ludy, Henry, Zacharias, and even some Chan.  I'm not sure where to begin with more current fiction novels...I've read quite a few.  Some of my favorites are written by: Rowling, Palahniuk, Adams (Douglas), Cussler, Ludlum, Christie, Fleming, Tolkien, and now, Patrick Rothfuss.

It is true that I love to read, and it is also true that I was not always this way.  In fact, I used to think reading a book was a waste of time.  I was the kid who would rather watch the movie of the book when it came out instead of reading the book itself.  Growing up I was lazy. I was focused on playing sports and video games, and school fell right into place behind friends on my list of priorities.  Reading a book was equal to doing the dishes as far as I was concerned.  However, at some point, a change occurred.

I think the book that helped me realize my love for reading was actually The adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  As odd as that may sound, Mark Twain helped me realize that a character can actually be portrayed better in writing than on a big screen.  I found myself lost in Huck Finn's story, and the blatant honesty of the times kept me interested.  Now, this didn't immediately ignite me into a book-aholic, but it did give me a better appreciation for literature.  From there, I began to read my assigned reading more carefully (whether my mother chooses to believe it or not) and then even began to pick up books without being asked.  In high school, I took it upon myself to read everything that Jane Austen had written, and then shortly after that I read The Simarillion followed by everything that Tolkien had written.  I tried to get through all of C.S. Lewis' writings as well, but at the time, books such as The Abolition of Man and Letters to Malcolm were a little too complex.  I eventually finished Lewis in College.  After my Lewis fail, I became interested in short stories and found myself reading E.A. Poe's dreadful poetry, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.  But the short story phase didn't last.  No, I was too much a fan of fantasy novels.

Now, obviously I'm a fan of Harry Potter, I've read the Eragon books (please don't ask how I liked them), and The Wheel of Time series is pretty much a fantasy buff's standard (Need to read those again).  What can I say, I'm a sucker for an intelligently written, quest-style, fantasy novel.  Right now I'm reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and I'm LOVING it!! (More on this later).  Basically, all of you need to go buy this book and read it right now.

I am now an avid reader and I wouldn't change anything about that part of me.  I'll read anything and, if I was capable, everything.  If there is something you've read lately that you really liked and couldn't put down until the end, please let me know!  I'm always looking for a new good book. =)

-Matt