Pull up a chair...

Picking the right place to read is a very important decision.

When I was younger, I had two favorite spots. In the winter, it was my laundry room and in the summer it was my hammock.

The laundry room in my parent's house is a tiny little room under our staircase, that houses our washer/dryer and boiler. In the winter it was the perfect place to crawl into with my pillow and wrap myself up in one of the toasty, and freshly-laundered blankets waiting for me in the dryer. It was the one place where I could tune out whatever commotion was going on upstairs (and with a family as big as mine, commotions were easy to come by). I loved the floating smells of Tide and Bounce dancing in the air, in tune with the boiler's lulling hum. It was my safe haven; my winter retreat.

Summer called for a different atmosphere. A light breeze, wind giggling through the leaves and a lazy lullaby slightly creaking in the background. Attached to two perfectly spaced trees, my hammock swayed me to another world. The smell of grass and suntan lotion always perfuming the air. It was the perfect place to imagine the adventures I was gobbling up with every turn of the page.

Nowadays, the places I choose to read are dependent on where I am.

Commuting on the LIRR into Manhattan gives me a glorious 1hr:15 min there and back to fully immerse into my book of the moment (it's also a really good time to catch up on sleep, but we're not talking about great places to sleep, are we?!)

Any couch or comfy chair where I can put my feet up and potentially take a nap in between chapters is always preferable. In my opinion, the perfect chair has to be one of those overgrown armchairs with a matching ottoman; you can curl up or stretch out and maybe even cuddle with your fellow reading buddy ;)

Oh, and don't forget that the perfect reading place is not complete without the perfect lighting. Living in a house with, shall I say, "Dad's bad lighting", finding a place that is bright and welcoming at the same time is very important when I am looking for a place to settle with my book. The light can't be too harsh because then it kills the mood, but it can't be too dim because then all I hear is my grandmother's voice "You're going to go blind!" And since I'm already pretty blind (a.k.a. contacts and reading glasses) I can't take any chances.

So put away your straight-backed wooden folding chairs and invest in a chair you'll boast about at your next book club meeting.

To blog or not to blog?

As I was sitting on the LIRR train, reading another "book turned movie", I thought about all the books I've decided to read just so I could go to the local Loews, pay $12,000 and get completely disappointed when the movie didn't live up to my imagination. So many times, the silver screen isn't big enough for the imaginings of the author and it is just a complete disaster. (Read and then see "Nights in Rodanthe", you'll know what I mean).

It was then that I made my decision to enter the blogosphere. My brain had been turning around the idea after I had finished reading "Julie & Julia". Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that "Oh my God, I could become famous just like Julie Powell, get a book deal and then make a movie!" It was more, "Hmm...sitting down and writing the great American novel seems a bit daunting right now, but blogging about stuff? I might be into that."

That is when I started badgering my friends:
"If I were to write a blog, what would it be about?"
"Would you read my blog?"
"Are blogs stupid?"
"What do you think about writing a blog _________?"

Then when that was too hard it went to:
"What should my blog name be?"
"What should the title be?"
"No, that's a stupid title."
"No, that's a stupid title!"
"No, that's a stup....HEY! Where are you going? I need your heeeelp!"

I definitely wanted it to be about books, because (un)fortunately while everyone else is out going to bars and living the life of a normal 20-something-year-old, I like to cozy up under my self-knitted afghan and read. (I don't really have a self-knitted afghan, not for lack of trying, it has more to do with my inability to knit something harder than a scarf -- ask my friends, Christmas circa 2007. I just thought it would add a touch of crazy cat lady that you guys would appreciate.) But I digress.

My ideas ranged from writing about books turned into movies, to writing a blog titled "A Year in the Life of a Bridesmaid" while incorporating my book du jour. Anyway, I just wanted to start writing. So many people just jump in, not caring whether you're going to think them egotistical for writing about themselves everyday or getting up on their soap box and telling you why their opinion is right. I'm here, just wanting to share my opinion about life, love and books and hoping I'll have some readers who will learn from me, but most important, people who I will learn from too.

So here I am, no project in mind. Just a hope that the world is still a good place where strangers can learn a little from each other one post at a time :)