I cannot remember a time when reading wasn’t my favorite way to pass the time – both free time and time I should have been using to do other things. My Christmas lists to Santa were all full of the books I wanted. I used to get in trouble for reading instead of cleaning my room and other chores. Somewhere around age 8 or 9 I wanted to change the spelling of my name, because Page is so much more book-ish. In middle school, I spent weeks making my bookshelves into a library of my own, made handwritten checkout cards that I put in the back of every single tome I owned. (Sadly, no one ever checked anything out, so they didn’t get used. And I never made any money on fines…) I was that high school-er that used Barnes and Noble gift cards to actually buy books, instead of Starbucks at the in-store cafes. When we bought our house, my husband let me turn one of the extra rooms into my very own library, a dream I’ve always had. AND he bought me a catalog app as a gift, so I could keep track of my, currently, over 600 books. When I graduated with my Master’s, my gift to myself was a monthly book and tea subscription box (from Muse Monthly – though sadly they are no longer in business.)
So when I discovered Goodreads, I pretty much thought it was the best thing that ever happened to the internet. (Check out my profile. Click “view (with text)” to the right of any book to see what I’ve got to say about it.) I loved keeping track, all in one place, of all the books I’d read and all the books I want to read. And about a year into using it just for tracking, I started writing reviews. I now write reviews for every book I read. My best book review moments (prior to anything that has happened since starting this blog, of course, because I’ve now had some pretty awesome moments here!) are when the authors themselves actually liked what I wrote! (Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Nuevel and Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin) Over time, my reviews have gotten longer and more in depth. And even better, I’ve started to get comments and questions from many different friends and acquaintances who have said they like my reviews or are looking for a book recommendation for themselves or a friend.
One day, one of those friends mentioned starting a blog about all my book love. I originally brushed it off because there are already so many. But I kept thinking about it. And I’m writing the reviews already anyways…so I figure maybe it’s worth a try. Books have always, always been my favorite thing. Just opening up and smelling the pages of a new book makes me feel better if I’m having a rough day. So I guess this is my attempt to share that love of reading, and try to spread it a bit. At the very least it gives me a better excuse for all those times I’m reading before bed (and my husband keeps asking me to just turn off the lights and go to sleep) and can’t help but say, over and over with a sheepish smile, “just one more page.”
Just One More Pa(i)ge 