Thoughts on reading

So after about two months, Matt and I finished reading the final Harry Potter last night at 12:45 a.m. It seemed to take forever, but then I remembered when I read Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. My brother owned the unabridged version, and I really wanted to read it; so he lent the book to me while he went on his mission. It literally took me two years to read that book. I really crammed the last few months before my brother got home to make sure I finished it. All of the French history and background really tripped me up, and Hugo puts some in about every other chapter. The whole process was long and tedious. I remember understanding the book better because of the history, but I swore I would never read the unabridged version again. One time did it for me.

I do enjoy reading, but I'm more of a light reader. I prefer the easy stories. When I first decided I should read Harry Potter because I was going to be a teacher, I couldn't get through it until I started reading it aloud for my fourth grade class. That's when I started enjoying it. Yet, I've never finished the second book all the way through. The rest of the series I couldn't put down, although books 4, 5, 6, and 7 I read aloud with Matt. I much prefer it that way -- we could really discuss what was happening together. I've really enjoyed reading every night with him, and I think I'd like to keep doing that. Maybe we can read more educational books so that I don't feel like Joey from Friends --- remember that episode: the one where he buys the V volume of an encyclopedia set from Penn and Teller so he sounds educated in conversation?