Reader's Block

by Janet Levine

Hi. My name is Janet and I am a biblioholic.

It started when I just a kid. My sister wanted to be a teacher. When she was almost 9 and I not quite 4, I became her first captive student.

She made me read. And I haven’t been able to stop since.

I’ll read anything. I prefer books, but if they are not available, I’ll read newspapers, cereal boxes, can labels. Once I even read a People magazine. I know, and I am ashamed.

Reading has kept me from more important things in life. Like TV. There was a time when I tried to read and watch TV, but I haven’t set my eyes on a sitcom since 1978. It’s bad enough that I didn’t see the Sopranos (is that too last year?) , but I’ve never even watched a reality show. I’m not sure I even know what a reality show is.

I don’t think I’m a bad person. Just addicted. But I do know it’s not my fault. My sister pushed me into reading. Then school continued what she started. It’s a good thing that our schools learned their lessons. My older daughter is as addicted as I am, but my younger son, mercifully, views reading as something you sometimes can’t avoid. I’m sure my grandson will not have even that problem. Schools have stopped teaching. I was going to say they’ve stopped teaching reading, but I realized that was too fine a point.

I did stop reading once. In a way, it was very liberating. There weren’t any new ideas to play with and get tangled up in. Not too many facts cluttering up my thought processes. But it was a bit lonely. There were no other people crowding my head. It was all what I did; what I thought.

In a very short amount of time I found that I was desperate for a fix. Words. Any words. As long as they were printed. I tried to ease back slowly; keep myself from constantly gorging on all those beautiful letters. I joined a 12-step program.

I then read the twelve steps and realized that I was doomed.

The reading was fine, but I don’t actually believe that there IS a higher power than words. And I can’t think of many better mentors than book. I do admit my addiction, but I just can’t fathom a life without weekly visits to the library, or evenings spent without a book in hand.

My name is Janet and I am a biblioholic.