some books can only be read when you're ready...

I have always been an avid reader.  I always have at least two books with me on vacations; I sacrifice sleep to finish a book; hell as a kid while "playing outside", I would build a tent out of blankets across the front stoop , create an elaborate interior, then curl up inside my hideaway and read.  I am generally a fast reader, all of the Harry Potter books were completed in two days or less, and I re-read books often.  To me a good book doesn't just tell you a story, it fully immerses you in the world in which it was written so thoroughly that you lose yourself in it, you live the life of the fly on the wall.

For this reason I was completely stumped when as an adult I began encountering books I simply could not get through.  Books that I genuinely wanted to read, had been enjoying in fact, but would find myself reading the same passage over and over with no idea what I had just read.  Eat Pray Love was the first book that did this to me.  I flew through Elizabeth's time in Italy and was eager to read India, and especially to get to Bali, but I just could not make it through India.  I thought if maybe I took a day off, then tried again.  I thought  maybe I was just having an off day, but no, I simply could not make it through Italy.  Every time I tried I would just find myself feeling extremely frustrated, and eventually would have to put the book down and walk away.  The truth is, it was Richard from Texas.

When you're accustomed to losing yourself in books, you take on the emotions of the characters as well.  Their journey becomes your journey, their heartache your own, their frustrations, etc.  Richard from Texas was making Elizabeth look deep within herself, see and explore things about herself she may not like.  Richard from Texas was making me do the same.  The problem was simple, I was not ready to go on the journey of self-discovery and self-exploration Elizabeth was on.  Who was he to make me think about what I had done wrong, what I had or had not brought to the table, in my previous relationships.  Of course, it wasn't until months later, after I had given the book a break and myself some time, that I realized this was the issue.

My second attempt with Eat Pray Love was a breeze, before I knew it I found myself in Bali meeting and falling in love with Felipe. 

Paulo Coelho's The Zahir, is another book that I was unable to get through on first, second, and third attempts.  I would make it half way through, he would meet Mikhail, be on the road to finding his Zahir, then I would get stuck.  It made no sense, what was blocking me?  I love Coelho's books.

I've recently started it again, and have made it beyond the point I always got stuck.  Maybe, when I get to the end, I will understand why I wasn't ready to read it before.