The idea for this post was born a few minutes ago when I was thinking that though I had a lovely day today, I never had a chance to pick up my book and read, and that, to me, is a black spot on the day.  Or any day, for that matter.  Then I remembered that tomorrow (today now) I’m getting my hair cut and colored, and that usually gives me about forty five minutes under the dryer letting my color sink in where all I have to do is sit and read.  So then I got to thinking about all the places I’ve read in my life, and how inappropriate some of them have been.  I remembered that one time a long time ago on the blog I did a “True Confessions Thursday,” where I confessed how many books I had pre-ordered on amazon.com, and I thought doing another one might be fun this week.  (Also I haven’t finished my Sebastian Barry book that I started a few days ago, so I don’t have a finished book to review.)  So here they are, in no particular order, the weird places I’ve read, mixed with confessions about excuses I find to read, places I go in hopes of reading, places I bring a book to, etc.

1. I look forward to going to any medical appointment for the time I get to sit in the waiting room and read.  It’s extra special if the doctor I’m seeing is running late.
2. I love to get my hair colored so I can sit under the dryers while my color processes and read in peace.
3. I try to get places earlier than whoever I’m meeting so I have a little while to read before she gets there.  Bethany really likes to do this too.  And she usually beats me.
4. I always make my husband drive whenever we go somewhere, not because I mind driving, but because I can read while we drive.  I use my long commute to and from work as an excuse to get out of being behind the wheel.
5. If I could sit in a car with a friend and read while we drove somewhere without being considered rude I would do it in a hot minute.
6. If there were public transit between home and work I would totally use it.  Not because it’s better for the environment, though.  I’d do it so I could read a book.
7. I like it when my husband has to work late because that means I have more time in the house alone so I can read rather than talk to him.
8. I don’t know that I’ve ever told anyone the truth when they have asked me how much more I’ve got to read before I get to a good breaking point so we can go to bed/leave the house/etc.  I always say less and then read longer.
9. The day after it came out, I took Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows to dinner with my husband and read while we ate.
10. I read ahead in my fifth grade history textbook.  The story of American History fascinated me.
11. I read The Old Man and the Sea in its entirety at a 49er game at Candlestick park in the rain the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 1992.  I’d had the entire four-day weekend to read it but I put it off so I could read it at the game just to see if I could.  I wasn’t planning on rain, though.
12. I used to go to Borders in Davis to read and drink coffee at least once a month almost the entire time it was open, from 1999 to 2010.  I bought a lot of books just because I felt like I owed them more for their time than the cost of a mocha, even a mocha as awesome as a Seattle’s Best Coffee mocha.  I tried to reinstate this tradition at the Barnes and Noble in Natomas and decided it just didn’t feel right, so my days of hanging out in bookstore cafes are over until I decide to run off and live in Portland so I can go to Powell’s every day.
13. The first two-ish weeks of winter quarter of my second year in veterinary school I brought Anne Rice books with me to class every day and read through just about every class.  I have no regrets.  Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle were better than lectures on pathology.
14. I minored in English in undergrad in no small part because I wanted some of my homework to be reading literature instead of reading science textbooks.  I never got below a B+ in any English class I took, and I never ever fell behind on the reading, unlike my science classes.
15. I went out to dinner with a friend last night and though I enjoyed our dinner and hanging out, I was a little jealous of the gentleman eating dinner alone at the next table with his kindle and a glass of wine.
16. I go to bookstores because they make me peaceful and calm.  When I was my most stressed during vet school I would study at Borders in Davis or an indie bookstore in Woodland called The Next Chapter.  They had a café that made wonderful mochas.  They closed in 2008 and it was a sad, sad day.
17. I must carry a purse that’s big enough to hold a reasonably thick trade paperback, preferably a reasonably thick hardcover.
18. I am seriously considering dumping the Sebastian Barry book I’m reading right now for a couple weeks so I can read the last two Kim Harrison books.  I hate myself a little for this one.
19. I hate movie tie-in covers for books.  I try to avoid them at all costs.  I once waited several years to buy a book because I didn’t want to buy it with the movie cover.
20. I was devastated about Borders closing down, but I was also very excited about their going out of business sale.  I went to the Davis Borders just about every day for a week to make sure I didn’t miss out on anything.
21. I love to have used book scavenger hunts wherein I decide I must have a book but I’m not allowed to buy it new.  I’ve got to find it in a used bookstore, or online at Powells.com.  Right now my project is Kim Harrison’s Black Magic Sanction.

I hope no one is offended by any of these confessions.  I’m sure people who know me well were not in the least bit surprised by any of them.