“You cannot pretend to read a book. Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing. A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader deep in a book will not look up until the wallpaper is in flames.”
Mr Pip, by Lloyd Jones.
I just love this description of how absorbing reading a book can be! If you are a booklover or a reader, I expect there have been times when you have become totally lost in a book, time has passed and you have no idea how long you were sitting there reading.
I know as a child (and still now) I would say "just to the end of this chapter", and often keep right on reading thru the next and the next chapter. If I am engrossed in a book, dinner will not get cooked, washing will not get done and the temptation to not answer the phone is overwhelming. I have friends who have said when they are in a good book - "talk to your father, I'm not coming out of the bedroom this week".
I think it is also very observant to say you can tell if somebody isn't reading a book - something about the breathing and the eyes. The eyes are too busy and the breathing is more rapid perhaps. I remember as a teenager trying to pretend to be reading so as not to have to talk to a boy or some such and realising that it was a totally hopeless act.
In the end, this was just such a lovely way to express an appreciation of those moments when you are reading a good book - when you are far far away in some other world. It made me smile and go "oh yes, I know that feeling..."
Mr Pip, by Lloyd Jones.
I just love this description of how absorbing reading a book can be! If you are a booklover or a reader, I expect there have been times when you have become totally lost in a book, time has passed and you have no idea how long you were sitting there reading.
I know as a child (and still now) I would say "just to the end of this chapter", and often keep right on reading thru the next and the next chapter. If I am engrossed in a book, dinner will not get cooked, washing will not get done and the temptation to not answer the phone is overwhelming. I have friends who have said when they are in a good book - "talk to your father, I'm not coming out of the bedroom this week".
I think it is also very observant to say you can tell if somebody isn't reading a book - something about the breathing and the eyes. The eyes are too busy and the breathing is more rapid perhaps. I remember as a teenager trying to pretend to be reading so as not to have to talk to a boy or some such and realising that it was a totally hopeless act.
In the end, this was just such a lovely way to express an appreciation of those moments when you are reading a good book - when you are far far away in some other world. It made me smile and go "oh yes, I know that feeling..."
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| ©2009 Fiona Dempster - Lost in a good book |
Ditto... I know that feeling too Fiona. Isn't it great?
ReplyDeleteOne of my absolute favourites Lesley!
Deletevery fitting, your photo. i sometimes wonder if the real world actually exists because i am so captured by the book. whatever book it is that i am currently alive in.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fine line sometimes V isn't it?
DeleteJust one more page ... :-) I still do it. Getting lost in a good book is delicious. I usually read non fiction but on holiday I read quite a few novels and loved every minute of it.
ReplyDeleteI laughed Robyn - me too! I love getting carried away by a good book - totally and completely absorbed. It's like coming up for air afterwards - wondering where have I been?
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