However much I love reading, I'm not an indiscriminate reader. I learned to love reading pretty much from the moment I learned to read. I thought as a child that I would love to read anything, although I allowed that I would find certain types of texts generally more enjoyable than others. For instance, as a child I preferred novels over newspapers because fiction was more "fun" (a bookworm's rebellion against parents that thought NY Times articles more worthy of reading than Judy Bloom novels).
What I have become more aware of, as I grow older and the stages of my life begin to take shape, is that such a general view of what I enjoy reading doesn't hold - I have become quite enamored with the NY Times, particularly certain political columnists and travel series, and have been known to find other non-fiction quite engaging as well. Instead, what I choose to read, and actually enjoy, is a symptom of my mental state at that given time. It is tied to my mental capacity, maturity level and preoccupation at a particular time in my life. This is why I have discarded books after a few pages only to devour them years later, and also why I re-read certain favorites (the ones that resonate deeply with my soul) at various stages of my life, each time gleaning new meaning and renewed pleasure (don't we all?). As such, my life's reading list is my life's soundtrack, the tone and subject matter providing a fitting accompaniment to my life and thoughts as I live and think.
It has been said and written many times before: "you are what you read." I always knew this to mean that you are shaped by what you read, which I am. I now know that it also means that I am drawn to reading what my mind and soul crave.
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