Rainy Days and Reading

It's raining again in New York and I have to do laundry again. Go figure. Last time I did laundry it was raining. It's no biggie if you have a car to get into to drive your laundry to the laundry mat, or better yet, you don't have to go anywhere because you have a washer and dryer at home. But alas, these are not luxuries I enjoy at this time in my life. Carrying a load of laundry while trying to balance an umbrella and detergent is no easy task. I even took my push cart last time, and it was still difficult. Instead, I feel like staying in doors and curling up to a book. Yep, I said it. I am going to READ. I just read a friend's blog post about wanting to read a lot this summer, though she admitted to being not the greatest reader. I can relate. I have never been a big reader, and I take a really long time to get through a book. I also feel like I get bored quickly. Typically, if the book doesn't grab me within the first few pages, I have a hard time committing to it. Ha. It's like my relationships, only I'm the book, not the reader. If someone would just keep reading, for crying out loud...

This is a good depiction of how I feel about that above statement.

And that leads me to my renewed effort to READ often. I gotta give books a decent shot, right?! I can't be a hypocrite. I was talking to someone about this the other day, how I've never loved to read, but wish I did. And then I thought, well, have I ever really tried it long enough? I blamed the lack of desire on the fact that I've been forced to read things (in school) my entire life. But leisure reading is something entirely different. I love books themselves, especially used ones. I used to buy them from second-hand stores all the time, with the intent to read them. I usually would pick them up, begin to read them, and then get distracted with something else. I had an entire, tall bookcase full of 'em! I got rid of most of them when I moved to NYC.

A year or so back, I picked up some books and lost myself in them, and it was a good thing. Reading is a form of escape, no? It's an approved form of escape, even. So, I'm doin' it. I have my entire summer off, lots of free time on my hands, and I'm going to make a point to read, dangit! And this is where I'm going to start:

It was on my roommate's shelf. Only a hundred and something pages. Startin' out small. Don't judge me.

Long Live Holden Caulfield

On my ride home from my internship tonight a guy got on the subway with this book in his hand

It immediately caught my eye, because I own the same kind of copy, and I loved J.D. Salinger books in high school. There aren't many, but they are quality. I remembered reading The Catcher and the Rye and loved how raw and real the main character, Holden Caulfield, was. It's been a long, long while since I read any of the books. And just now, I was checking my email and had an email from the New York Times alert message service. J.D. Salinger passed away today, at age 91. It said the man lived in isolation for 50 years....didn't want the fame he received, I suppose. I wonder if the guy on the subway knew and was reading that book as a homage to the author on the day of his death. Or maybe it was coincidence. Either way, it was a nice little New York moment.