Good morning!! As I wake all refreshed from a reading marathon, life shall return to normal... Back to the mundane life of the suburban housewife and mother.... Laundry and housework are on the menu for the day. My Kindle had a workout and needs a rest. Me, on the other hand, needs to ramp up doing all those things I should have been doing over the past 4 days or so.
I will admit something here and now.... Rarely do I ever get that wrapped into a trilogy of books, and especially in the genre of romance novels. I usually gravitate towards suspense thrillers, mysteries, or sci-fi novels. I do recall going through a Harry Potter phase and read all 7 books in succession over the course of a month or so, but never cranking out a book in a day or two. What baffles me is how wrapped up I got in the Shades of Grey books. While these books tend to be a bit too graphic for my comfort zone (especially in the first book), I did succumb to being less "schoolgirl giddy" and uncomfortable reading as time went on. There was a story there... a perspective offered... curiosity was peaked. While I felt that there was way too many emotional flips and way more intimacy being the solution, I knew that in reality (or at least in mine), this would never happen on my dizziest of days. While the character, Christian Grey, was intriguing... Ana Steele seemed a little too rambunctious and enjoyed something a little too much (if you catch my drift). Sorry folks, but in the eyes of a regular girl like myself, I just could not fathom her first time being that intense, nor enjoyable. No matter how skilled the guy is or how in love you may be. First times are awkward and uncomfortable. Also, her determination to keep ticking off the man she claims to love, while having a clue of his control freakish ways is not going to be smoothed over with humor... No matter how infatuated the guy may be. As every relationship has its ups and downs, this one was quite a whirlwind that baffles me. Heck, it took 4 months before DH even considered proposing to me (not 3 weeks). While my track record of getting engaged (yes, I have been engaged a few times before "taking the plunge"), it usually took 8 months to a year of dating someone. I know, I know.... this is a book... a fantasy and not reality.
While reading does take you places that spark the imagination, there seems to be a pattern of what we choose to read and how attached we become to the genre. As I said before.... I gravitate towards fiction. Something that sparks thought, thrill, suspense... Never something that revolves around love, infatuation, desire, and sex. As I shared the story line of these books to my mom (yes, I know I offered the spoiler to her since I know that these books would cloud the premise of something more than raunchy sex to her and if she was to even try to read one, she would set the thing on fire, call upon a priest and demand that I go to confession for reading something so "filthy"...LOL). As I explained away the sex-driven material and focused on the story woven within, I asked my mom why I was drawn to this type of writing, that I was determined to finish the trilogy and move forward. Her answer was simple, and to the point.... It is because what we choose to read lacks in our own reality.
As I pondered the answer, I realized that she is right. I read to escape. What I read offers imagination, intrigue, and feelings that I seem to be missing. While I have no qualms about married life... it is not all that I hoped it would be. The thrill, the excitement, the mystery, the suspense... and the love or the feeling of desire diminishes. Now, I know that I am loved (if I was not, I would be handed divorce papers), but the intensity that these romance novels possess is something that every person seeks. Well, not as intense, but we do seek to feel fulfilled, to be desired, to be looked upon with emotion. I just never placed that high of regard to those feelings when I was younger or I never really thought all that much about it. Now, as I get older... I look at my life and my inner needs and frown at what I believed grew with time (love, passion, desire), really does not. It levels off and stops growing. Life takes its hold and there is so much more than feelings. As harsh as it may sound.... people start to change. Their needs change. Their drive is focused somewhere else, and not always in the same direction. I should know... Reading about passion and realizing that there is a higher need for that stuff I call "sappy" in my life sure hurts when the reality of it is that the person I share my life with does not see the same things. His focus is on other things. There is no hero, there is no damsel in distress, and there is very little passion. The heart becomes shielded/guarded, and there is restraint. Communication gets strained. Conformity takes its hold. Acceptance is all that there is left. Accepting that this is the best it will ever be, even though there is a need for more... a want for more.
Damn book! Got me thinking and got me wanting more when I know that my knight in shining armor has spent all his energy on something else and chooses to not see what I see. I think my next choice of reading material should be in the genre of humor. Feeling a bit melancholy today. Oh well, back to work and all the piles of stuff I need to do....
Thanks for letting me "floss" today, thanks for reading and have a great day. Time to pay the piper for my inability to multitask and keep the housework under control while I went into a reading frenzy.....
No comments:
Post a Comment