Top Ten Places to Read

This week the folks at the Broke and the Bookish want to know just where we like to spend all of our time reading...

1. The Reading Tree

When I lived on-campus, I lived across the street from the main quad, and this beauty attracted my attention one autumn afternoon while walking from supper. I sat down there, found its roots perfect for my back, and subsequently spent many hours sitting or laying under the tree during seasonable weather. I'd spend my Sunday mornings and some Saturday afternoons here,  with a jug of water and good company on ocassion. This tree's canopy and several others joined to create an unbroken roof of greenery and I thought of it as my arboreal cathedral.


2. The Corner

This is a hidden corner in the top-most floor of my university library where I have spent more hours than I care to contemplate preparing notes for term papers. Strange as it seems, I looked forward  to spending the weekend tucked away here, taking notes for my papers and listening to the hush of library conversations and the wind howling between the library and the theatre next door. From time to time I could get up to stretch and admire the view of campus from the nearby windows.

3. The Sunroom

Attached to my university's dining hall is a long eating gallery where the walls and ceilings are made of glass. Because my university campus is so gorgeous, it's a wonderful place to sit once the crowds have thinned out.  I always had my breakfast here on campus, surrounded by lush greenery. Birds and squirrels climbed overhead while I had my bagel and coffee .  I also enjoyed relaxing here after lunch, sipping coffee (during the winter, anyway; in the  late spring and early autumn I preferred hot tea) until it was time to go to work.

4. My Couch
The only picture I have of my couch comes from when I was chasing a lizard with my camera, but those pictures are a little too-zoomed in. My couch sits with its back to a large window that affords a view of the woods and brambles behind my home, and I like nothing more than to put on some soft classical music, sprawl out on the couch looking outside while tucked under a cover. Of course, I tend to change positions if I'm in the grips of a good book and am liable to sit there for several hours.

5. My Bed
Laying down or sitting up cross-legged, my bed is a pretty good place to read.

6. Library Courtyard

When my home library expanded back in 1997, doubling its size, it built a little courtyard out in front, but shielded from the open by a fetching stone wall. (Or brick wall with a stone facade...)  There are trees, a fountain, and somewhat comfortable benches. While I don't often read here, I enjoyed it in high school and still check in from time to time.  This picture only shows half of it.

7. Behind the Statue

This is a statue which sits in the center of campus. Its official title is the "Becoming" statue, and it is meant to portray teachers handing the keys to the future to their students. Everyone calls it the "Hands" statue, though, and on-campus directions tend to start there.

I enjoy having my lunch or reading right behind the statue, sitting on its concrete base and taking shelter from the sun and wind with the large bronze hands around me.


8. The Office
When there's no work to be done, I enjoy reading at my desk while professors can be heard softly across the hall. My coworkers also make for good company, being readers as well.

9. The 'Knowledge is Power" Bench

I enjoyed this spot near the center of campus mostly in the late spring or early fall when waiting for classes or work following lunch.  I usually sat here following lunch because when it gets warm, I happen to like a soft ice cream cone, and  the bench is halfway between the dining hall and where my work and classes were.

10. The Ersatz Reading Tree
There's a tree in my front yard at home that I can sit under and read. It's not a bad spot; the trunk is fairly comfortable. Some stickler things have made their home at the base of it, though, and they poke me in the back. The tree is also popular with ants who bite me.

All of the pictures were taken by me in May 2010, shortly after I received a digital camera as a gift and went wild taking pictures for posterity. I never imagined I'd be using shrunken copies of them this way!