PAGE TURNERS
Some folks are such avid readers, they can't put a book down -- literally
By JAMES REED, Standard-Times correspondent
Joyce Miller knew she might be what we'll affectionately call a compulsive reader when she started buying the same books twice, by sheer accident. It was bound to happen, though, since she finishes three or four books a week.
Still. Doesn't that get expensive? Where does she store them?
"I would get a few pages into a book and suddenly realize that I'd already read it," she said last week, half smiling. "I usually don't keep the books I read. I pass them around to other people and then eventually donate them to some place."
Actually, she knew she was hooked on reading long before those costly second encounters. Even the staff of Baker Books in Dartmouth could have told you that.
"I used to come in here in between appointments and grab a cup of coffee and just read," the Dartmouth resident said. "We used to joke that I should have my own parking spot outside."
Yet she wasn't "just" reading; her perpetual presence made her a fixture at the store, enough of one that she was finally offered a job. Now Mrs. Miller, a former elementary school teacher, relishes her role of being able to peruse the new releases and get paid for it in the process.
After hearing Joyce Miller's tales, we wondered what drives other SouthCoast residents to read -- when they're waiting at the bridge, sitting in a doctor's office, or even clumsily falling asleep.
In some cases, we found reading roused and influenced aspiring writers, other times it was welcome companionship for self-described loners, and usually, as in Mrs. Miller's case, readers acknowledged that books transport them to worlds they've never known. And they savor the journey.
We're not just talking about the people who feverishly whiz through the latest Danielle Steele novel, either. The readers interviewed for this story easily juggle three or four books at a time, join book clubs and sometimes, just for fun, swap books with their spouses for fodder.
Abigail Sweeney is the youthful prototype of the avid reader. She is a 19-year-old Fairhaven resident who tears through novels as though they were magazine articles. It's nothing for her to devour 400 pages in two hours or so, she said.
If you didn't already know that she spends hours on end reading books of all genres -- before work, before going to bed, and often in between -- then maybe her rapid-fire speech about her latest find will clue you in.
"Right now I'm reading a series by Tanith Lee, who's a British science-fiction writer whose work is really out there," she said excitedly.
Speed reading is a gift that runs in her family, too.
"I definitely come from a long line of readers," she said. "Everyone in my house was always reading when I was growing up."
Juanita Goulart, assistant director of the Millicent Library, said that's the key to forming lasting reading habits.
"Lifelong reading starts when children are very young -- they read by example," she said. "If they see their parents get a delight from reading, then they're going to absorb that."
For Miss Sweeney, reading has been as much a learning tool as it is a source of pleasure.
When she wanted to pick up some essential Spanish phrases, she checked out a library book and taught herself the verb constructions and vocabulary. When she wants to "fool around with rhyme schemes and formats," she revisits the work of e.e. cummings. But if she just wants to spend an evening transfixed, then vampire literature does the trick.
Remember that this is what she likes to do in her spare time; she freely flouts the myth that young people don't read anymore.
"I know that a lot of guys my age think it's uncool to read," she said. "They would rather be playing sports or doing something macho."
That's not the case with her 17-year-old brother. The two have forged a relationship arguably closer than most siblings, thanks to their mutual love of books.
"We're both sort of loners, so yeah, I'd say that we're closer because of reading."
Robert Michael can relate to that thought. He and his wife, Susan, are retired educators who, like Mrs. Miller, are familiar faces at Baker Books. They belong to one of the store's book groups and drop by at least three times a week to spend an evening reading and eating pastries in the store's cafe.
"Initially, I started reading because it was an escape," he said. "I had a relatively miserable childhood, so I tended to read things that were painful."
Later in life, Mr. Michael has discovered that "reading is a joy, and it's the kind of joy that you're not hurting anyone or yourself. It's safe exploration of things you wouldn't normally know about."
As a former UMass Dartmouth history professor, Mr. Michael gravitates toward history texts, while his wife has occasionally tried, in vain, to interest him in what he calls "girlie books," (read: romance).
He said both he and his wife, both Dartmouth residents, are working on novels, which means most of the books they read end up with notes on style and content scribbled in the margin.
"Reading is a good way to find out about yourself just by your reactions," he said. "My wife and I are always discovering that."
Oh, and don't worry about Mrs. Miller and her revolving door of the same books. She finally has finagled a way to make sure she's not a repeat offender.
Now that she's an book store employee, "I've worked out a deal with Mimi (Powell, store manager) so that if I realize I've already read a book, I can exchange it for another one."
This story appeared on Page B1 of The Standard-Times on October 7, 2002.
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