Eating books for breakfast

In terms of what I feed my body, I would say I generally have a healthy diet. Admittedly, I have been a chocolate-monster for years now and my daily regime has long been to soak up as much dance related activities in my day. I watched youtube videos, I caught SYTYCD Canada, I went to my classes, I talked about it and now, I even blog about it. But, what do I feel my mind? And what do I feed the writer/blogger? That said, every blogger turned writer (or has-been journalist turned blogger if you insist on specifics) knows that the key to a strong vocabulary comes from... I'll let you guess this one.

Ok. It's obvious now.

READING!

In all honesty, my university experience was one that had me so wrapped up in career-planning, projects, networking and oh-so-dull theoretical essays, that I was utterly turned off from reading altogether. And that, my friends, was for a few years. I have been timidly reopening books, dusting off novels, shyly reintroducing them into my world (or maybe it's me, feeling sheepish, wondering if I'm worthy of them). Lately - and I am not proud to say this - I've read more in a few months (heck, in a few weeks!) than I have in the past 2 years. Ok, my job search may have a larger part to play in my having more time to spend on books, but I still say it's a matter of intellectual readiness or thirst. Books (practical or fictional) have a way of providing an opportunity for travel. This can be in the form of a journey in time, in a foreign country, in a fantastic universe, in a language or profession or inside onself.

A few of the books I've read recently are Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury), The Prophet (Gibran), Si c'était vrai...(Levy), Novecento: pianist (Baricco), Silk (Baricco), Icons of Photography: The 20th Century and I've just started Gilbert's Committed.

I guess I had been craving words so much that I've been seeking them in all shapes and sizes: novels, short stories, news, blogs, French, English, yours, anyone's. I have no idea if my vocabulary has improved in any way, whether in French or English, but I can assure you that my mind is stimulated and my spirits are lifted, even from the sole imaginary travels...I suppose you could say that these days, books are what I consider my breakfast of champions.