When I was younger, throughout high school and college, I used to read constantly. I was always in the middle of a book and had one waiting in the wings. Sadly, once I was fully engrossed in my theater career, pleasure reading fell to the wayside. I managed to read while I lived in NYC mainly because of the subway. I could read a book while standing on a packed Express A-Train and not even need to hold on to anything. Those were the days...
Once I decided to walk away from theater while living in Cleveland my reading increased immensely. Since all of my jobs were downtown, I took public transportation again and always had a book in my bag. I often read during my lunch hours and loved being able to eat my lunch in the courtyard of the main Cleveland Public Library building. It wasn't until I started working in training at KeyBank that I stopped reading during the day. I wasn't working downtown and had to drive and we had no lunches to speak of because of our training schedule. That was one thing that I really disliked about that job. Once I moved in with Jeff my drive time went from 5 minutes to 25 minutes so that allowed me to get books on CD/iPod but it wasn't the same as getting engrossed in a book. One of the things I most enjoyed about reading during my commutes and lunches is that it freed up my evenings to knit. I could knit while catching up on the latest TV shows. There were times that I'd still get a book on CD and knit in the evenings but not often.
Fast forward to having Simon and my reading dropped off again just from sheer exhaustion or not enough hours in the day. Once he got older, I opted for easier non-engrossing reads like magazines. Now that he's in school 2 days a week for 2 hours along with his afternoon naps that give me more time again (when I'm not addicted to the latest Lego game on XBOX).
A friend that I met in a knitting shop in Issaquah recommended The Help to me when I was 9 months pregnant. I just never got around to it, and then the movie came out, etc. I cracked it open this past weekend and finished it about 48 hours later. I haven't sped through a 400+ page novel that quickly in a long time. I think it's finally time to pick up the latest George R.R. Martin. :)