This summer I had an affair with a lady named Gillian Flynn!! That's right, Gillian Flynn and I had a rather torrid love affair during July and August!!
Like most affairs it started innocently enough. Being an older man, I was flattered when Gillian flirted with me with Sharp Objects and then she enticed me with Dark Places and finally, she had me completely with Gone Girl!!
Did my wife know? How could she not!! Gillian and I were right next to her throughout our summer fling, she had to know! Even though I knew my affair may be looked down on by others and that it was destined to come to an end eventually, I couldn't stop my nightly meeting with Gillian!! I finally have to confess my darkest secret...
That's right, I'm a SERIAL READER!!
Although my affair with Ms. Flynn may be over with for now, I'm hoping against hope that she and I will meet again soon. (as soon as she writes another book that is) My addiction to reading is far from over!!
W. Somerset Maugham once said, "To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life."
While my life growing up certainly wasn't miserable, reading allowed me to escape my small South Dakota town (147 friendly people, according to the sign), life with four sisters and access to only two television stations.
For a boy who never physically left the state of SD until he was an 8th grader, reading allowed me to travel the great battle fields of Europe and the American Civil War. I was stranded on a deserted island with Robinson Crusoe and traveled the Mississippi River with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. As a kid I was able to be in Berlin with Jesse Owens, hang out with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in New York and meet the greatest athlete of the 20th century, Jim Thorpe. All because of books!
"The man who does not read great books is no better than the man who can't read at all!"
Mark Twain
Just this year alone, besides my afore mentioned love affair with Gillian Flynn, I was able to travel back in time in an attempt to save JFK thanks to Stephen King and 11/22/63, relive the trials and tribulations of the filthy rich by rereading F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and feel the powerful impact of the written word thanks to Markus Zusak and The Book Thief.
"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."
Harper Lee
The lust of a true serial reader is never sated, so I expect that I will continue to burn up my Kindle and lurk at the closest Barnes and Noble in my quest for my next great read!!
"Stay Reading my Friends."
Jonathan Goldsmith ("The most interesting man in the world.")
