Wednesday, February 25, 2015

What I'm Trying to Do

I grew up as a bookworm.  As early as I could, every book, magazine, or even cereal box that I could get my hands on, I would read.  I would go to the library and be told to put back books because it was over the maximum amount allowed to be borrowed at one time.  I devoured every book I ever came in contact with, not caring if it was Pixie Tricks, Captain Underpants, or the Magic Tree House.  I wrote stories in my pink Britney Spears themed notebooks, and never once assumed I would be anything except a professional book reader & writer - if that was even a thing.  As I grew up, my tastes matured and I moved on to bigger, and more "important" books like The Lovely Bones, The Kite Runner, and Stephen King.  I've read the "angsty" teenager vampire & werewolf books, I've read all the major fantasy series such as Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire, and I've read as much Classical Literature as my schedule allows, especially if it is written by Alexander Dumas. And yes, I read on both e-readers and in print.  About 18 years later from reading my first book, I'm still reading as much as possible with just as wide a selection, although I'm not too sure Captain Underpants was ever really my type.

So naturally, here I am, an Accounting Major at West Chester University. Yeah, I'm not quite sure how that happened either. 

However, I have decided that all hope is not lost: I can still redeem myself, and the little 5 year old girl who wanted to be an author still has a fighting chance.  You see, here's the thing.  I'm not just a bookworm, I'm a bibliophile.  And if you think that sounds wrong or dangerous, you probably don't know what it means.  A bibliophile is simply a person who loves books, admires them, collects them.  To be more exact, I like looking at books and smelling books and finding cute small bookstores to wander and waste hours in.  I read them too, I swear. So, lying in bed late at night a week ago, I had this crazy idea to travel around the country and see as many bookstores and libraries that I could.  I'll be starting with local bookstores within a few states, and hopefully be able to expand farther and farther. Better yet, why not start a blog to share these places with other readers?  I know I can't possibly be the only one that loves looking at books, and finding reading nooks in bookstores and libraries.  It also didn't hurt that a class I'm taking (the only one in my schedule unrelated to Accounting) requires us to do an individual project that combines technology and our own personal interests.  But really, this is something I should have started a long time ago.  

I am located in Pennsylvania, so if you know of any libraries/bookstores that you just absolutely love or would like to learn more about, drop a comment or a message and just give me the name!

A picture of my own book reading nook in my apartment.


Later this Week - Baldwin's Book Barn, Location: West Chester, PA