A lost hobby found

I remember in fourth grade, there was a month long book-reading "contest" where you get a cutout of a scoop of ice cream for each book you read that month, then if you got 3 of these, any additional books read would become a cutout cherry. Then, at the end of the month, you actually got a real sundae with the ice cream and cherries. Well that month, reading became my obsession. I read a lot of Beverly Cleary, Matt Christopher, and Encyclopedia Brown books among others, and by the end of the month, I had 30+ cherries to go on top of my 3 scoops of ice cream, creaming everyone else in what I made out to be a "contest". When sundae time came, I gave everyone else in the class one of my cherries, and I was a proud little narcissistic bastard. Since then, then number of books I normally read declined, and for a while I didn't read books.

Then came poker books, and I read a few of those. When I was finished with them, I'd re-read them and once I'd finish them again, I'd be wanting more, but never really reached.

Now I think I've rediscovered my love for reading. Kitchen Confidential alone has, in a matter of days, slightly changed the way I am. And in a good way. Anthony Bourdain's description is of his life is so real and raw that it has genuinely inspired me a little bit. But that's just me. And now I want more. More books. More to inspire me and open my eyes to new perspectives I won't see from staring blankly at a TV screen. And this time not for the cherries. But for me.