reading again

There's nothing quite like curling up in bed with a good book on a rainy day.

It's been so long since one of my favorite authors published a new book, I was beginning to think I wouldn't be able to just sit and read for hours like I used to. I still like reading well enough, but I haven't been so engrossed in a story that wasn't in Japanese in so long that I'd almost forgotten what it was like. I'd gone back and read old favorites since coming back home to my library, but I already knew what happened in those books. The only new stories I could really get into the past few months involved days spent in front of the computer reading subtitles. It was nice to get away from the tether of the power cord (which inevitably came no matter how much I take care of my battery) and space restrictions and just read.

It was such a novelty when I started reading The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce two days ago and remembered why I love her writing that I wanted to save it. I'd put off buying the book when it came out in November, and I figured I could wait a while before I finished reading it. At the same time, I knew I wouldn't want to put the book down once it got past a certain point, so I was careful not to get to that point before I had a good chunk of time to devote to reading it. I did manage to slow my reading pace down enough that I didn't skim over too much. It helped that there weren't any parts that were particularly distasteful or hard to read. No descriptions of war, and very little fighting or long drawn out dramatic irony like there were in some of Pierce's other books. There really weren't any bits that I would skip the second time around (I've skipped whole chapters before upon a quick second reading).

Yes, I have in the past gone back and immediately re-read books that I thought were good and thought I read too fast the first time. Especially in books that are part of a series, I tend to read very quickly the first time through (usually on the day of release) and read through the night if necessary. Then, I give the book to Jo to read for a couple days. She doesn't skim as much as I do the first time around, and she doesn't do the reading through the night thing as much as I do, so it takes her longer. Usually, by the time I get the book back, it's not in the brand-new condition it was when I gave it to her (I don't usually spend enough time with the book to mess it up too much). Then, I read the book again. Sometimes, while I wait, I'll re-read the earlier books in the series until I get up to the current book and then read it again.

This happens the most often with Pierce's books because she writes in series of quartets that end, but not really--they just keep going on to the next set of books. This newest book was part of the series I didn't like as much, so I probably won't go back and read the earlier books for a while. I know the earlier books were necessary in order for this books to happen, but this was the story I'd been waiting for when I finished the first quartet, and it didn't disappoint.

We do this with Harry Potter, as well, although not as much with the later books. For the second and third books, I re-read after going back and reading the earlier books, but for the fourth, I just tried to time it so that I would finish re-reading the series just as the fourth book came out. After that, I don't think I've gone back and seriously tried to re-read the series. I may read the whole series straight through after the last book comes out, if I forget enough for that to be worthwhile. At this point, I'm pretty much just waiting for the story to end. They're still great books, I'd just rather not re-read death scenes of beloved characters more than needed to understand the story.

Yes, I realize this is strange behavior, but is anyone who reads this blog actually surprised? Tamora Pierce actually writes about how she and her husband do this, too, on her website. I'm actually reminded now of a series I'd been meaning to go back and re-read for a couple years now and never got past the first or last book. (Yes, I also read out of order if I know the books well enough. Most recently, I've read a series starting from the fourth book and reading the short story that goes after the whole series, then going back to the second book, reading the first and third last in that order. I'm not sure why I did that except that I think I read them in the order of which one was my favorite, not counting the short story, which I always read after the last book.)

For the record, the last time I stayed up all night to finish something and then went back almost immediately after Jo was done was while watching The Prince of Tennis, although the series is so long that I'm still working on my second time all the way through (I watched some episodes with Jo while she was going through them, but most of them at this point are only second viewings). There were 178 episodes in the original series, 22 minutes each, plus a special, a movie, and a short movie. I didn't get a hold of the movie and short until pretty recently, but it took me about a week of watching straight through after finishing up my classes last semester to finish the series and special. Since then, I've also watched the musicals and plays the people in the musicals have been in, largely unsubbed in Japanese. A seven volume sequel is coming out starting the 26th of this month. The Japanese take their series seriously.

Man, I didn't mean to write so much. But it's been a while since I've blogged more than a few sentences, so I'm making up for it today :P  I also now remember why my eating habits were so bad. I'd been so good about eating at regular intervals recently, but this afternoon of reading was strictly an afternoon of reading. Now, I'm hungry, but blogging instead. Go figure.