Sometimes I go a few weeks or even a couple months without reading. At other times, I devour a book trilogy in two days, and it makes me want to keep slamming them back like shots at the bar. BANG you hear as I polish off a thick novel, toss it down with a thud, and shout to the keeper of good stories, “Another!”

Peeling the bookmark off whatever part of my body it had gotten stuck to because I haven’t used it in hours, I dismiss the storykeeper’s remarks about the dark circles under my eyes from staying up too late reading. I dismiss the warning that I need to get my kid up for camp tomorrow. I dismiss the fatigue I’m fighting, and hold out my hands for another volume, parched with a thirst that only the adventure of the printed page can quench.

…actually, I might genuinely be thirsty. Might be time for a break from reading just to legitimately hydrate. And then after that, on to the next book!