Ramblings On Reading

I am one of those people who feels very accomplished when I get certain ordinary tasks done. Most of the time these things are not the greatest feats but I still find myself feeling proud. Since I last wrote I have finished reading Paddington, finally made my way through the last few hundred pages of Inkspell (which I've been reading on and off since October), and polished off the third volume of Bleach. Now though I glow with pride I find myself with a dilemma and that is deciding what to read next. Do I go in for a reread so I can finally read the books I got for Christmas (both of which are the last in a series)?  Do I read The Wind And The Willows which I've had sitting on my top bookshelf for about a year now and keep forgetting I own? Perhaps I could attempt begging my parents to take me to the library so I can check out some of the books I've found online that I'm dying to read. I just don't know. Indecision is one of the many plagues of my existence. "Why don't you just read them all?" you ask. Well, dear readers, ever since I started on chapter books I tend to not be able to read more than one book at once in good conscience, I always feel like I'm cheating on the first book. Also the stories tend to get all mixed up in my brain and I'll get the plot of book A mixed up with the plot of book B. When I feel indecisive like this I usually just end up not reading anything. Let me tell you a thing: I always have to be reading something, when I'm not I feel like my brain is slowly turning to mush. When I'm not reading I tend to be moody... I find myself not writing as well, I like to think of books as caffeine for my muse and we all know how certain people can't function without coffee. Books tend to effect my behavior in the oddest ways as well; when I read Narnia I find myself unintentionally talking with a British accent, when I was small and read The Secret Garden for the first time I had a strong desire to get outside and breathe in all that good  fresh air. I could go on and on, most things have a more subtle influence on me though. People say that what you read in your younger years will shape who you become when you're older, your tastes, your behavior, etc; but I think that there's not really an age limit to this sort of thing, I believe that stories continue to mold us all our lives. I find stories as much of a necessity to my survival as food and water. I feel I could write forever and never express how much books mean to me. I love the sense of  comradery between people who enjoy have the same stories, I love hearing people talk about their favorite books with light in their eyes...So yeah, when I'm going through a reading rut as I am right now I feel sort of cut off from all of that, like a windup toy with a piece missing not functioning as it should. Usually after finishing a book for the first time I allow myself a three day mourning period to allow my brain to fully leave the story's universe, so tonight is for thinking and tomorrow decisions. That's it for now, hopefully the next entry will be about something besides books but I won't make any promises I can't keep. Much Love, Gabby