Habitual Reader Profiles - Page 2

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	Name: Martha Engber
	City & State: Santa Clara, California
	Vocation / Avocation: Writer/speaker/presenter/fitness guru
	Website: http://marthaengber.com

Why I'm a Habitual Reader:

Books swallow me whole in a way no other medium can, even movies, which I love. Considering I was labeled a "slow reader" in the first grade, there's no reason I should have been so consumed by a love of reading. Yet I read and read and read, even if I took five times longer to read a book than anyone else.

Part of my love of reading came from my desire to be like my mom. I loved the way she looked while reading. Very hip, very smart. Like she was elsewhere in a place I wanted to be but couldn't go. I admired her skill so much that one day I picked up a book, held it like she did and pretended to read. I laughed every few seconds to make the act more plausible. Soon my mom wandered in and asked if she could read to me. I nodded. She read. She and I went off to that other world together, the words a magic carpet.

I love to read because doing so envelops every part of my brain, which is also why I read so slowly. Rather than simply let my eyes sail past the words, the story a one-dimensional run-on sentence, I suck dry every word/sentence/paragraph before moving on. At any given moment while reading I'll have at least six different pathways open. Are the characters' actions believable? What would I do in the same situation? How is the story similar to my life? What concepts are new? What ideas could I use in my own writing? How does what I'm learning apply to the current world? So that when I finish, those files are jammed with information for future use.

The better the story---the more juicy the plot and beautiful the sentence structure---the slower I go. After all, reading a great book is like being given a taste of the very best chocolate in the world. Who wouldn't savor every moment?

My List of Ten: Books That Will Make You Think Outside the Box

1. House of Leaves
Author: Mark Danielewski
This is a story about space, both literally and figuratively. Besides a mind-bending tale, the author uses formatting to create a visual vertigo.

2. Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong
Author: John Balaban
Balaban roamed the Vietnamese countryside for poetry and in the process collected that of a witty 18th century concubine.

3. City Life
Author: Donald Barthelme
Anything by Barthelme makes you feel like you're walking upside down.

4. The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
I'm still trying to imagine a society without color.

5. Mrs. Dalloway
Author: Virginia Woolf
I loved the way she flowed from one character to the next.

6. The Hours
Author: Michael Cunningham
An incredible job of construction and content.

7. White Noise
Author: Don DeLillo
For the descriptions of sunsets and a family eating dinner.

8. The Golden Gate
Author: Vikrem Seth
A novel told in sonnet form. And it worked.

9. Heart of Darkness
Author: Joseph Conrad
A book you're forced to read when you're too young. Then when you read the story as an adult you see the brilliance.

10. In Cold Blood
Author: Truman Capote
A book that deserves all the praise ever garnered.

Have you read any of these titles? Review one now.

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