Top Ten Tuesday-My Favorite Places to Read

Time for another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is "Favorite Places to Read".  While not the most literary of topics, it does go to my belief that reading is more than a cerebral/emotional act.  It is also a sensual one, with the weight of the book in your hands and the smell of the pages.  This is one reason I personally believe that e-readers will never fully replace books.

It is probably foolish to begin this post on my favorite places to read right before I go to work, where I will not be curling up with a good book anytime today.  But with a great blog comes great responsibility, so I will persevere.  My favorite places to delve into a good book are, in no particular order...

• "My" Chair-Don't we all have one of these?  We have a small extra bedroom that we call the reading room (because calling it the library wold sound pretentious, and be a total exaggeration despite the 500 or so books stored there).  It is where I go for a quiet place when my daughter and partner are both watching TV. 
• My parents' porch in Northern Michigan-though clearly only in the summer.  Right now it is probably cold and snowy.  But in the summer it is glorious, facing out on the woods.  I can look up and watch the hummingbirds at the feeders if my eyes need to rest.
• My parents' study in Northern Michigan-though usually only in the winter.  It is warm and cozy and looks out on the snowy woods.
• North Bar Lake, Empire, Michigan-Are you seeing a theme here?  Some of my favorite places to read are also the places I go away to when I need a little relaxation.  North Bar Lake is a small lake connected to Lake Michigan by a narrow stream.  Sitting on the beach at North Bar, you can look through the gap and see the big lake-that is, I can see it when I infrequently look up from  my book. 
• Sitting on a boat-Yes, my parents also have a boat where they live (ahh, to be retired!), but it doesn't have to be their boat.  Really, any boat will do, as long as it's stationary and comfortable.
• Misquamicut Beach, Rhode Island-My extended family lives in Rhode Island, and when I was a young single mother with very little money (as opposed to what I am now-an older married mother who still doesn't have very much money!), I would drive from Chicago to Westerly, Rhode Island and stay with my Aunt Roseanne and Uncle Tom.  It was free-and it was 10 minutes away from one of the most beautiful beaches in New England.  Soft sand, enough surf to make swimming interesting but not dangerous-and a great spot to sit and read in the sun!
• Over a Meal-Yes, I am one of those people that would be perfectly happy eating just about every meal with a book open in front of me.  Since my family and friends actually want to, you know, TALK to me when we share a meal, I don't get to do this as often as I like.  I actually enjoy going to a restaurant by myself, because it gives me an excuse to read while I eat and not seem rude!
• In a cabin in the woods in the winter, preferably in front of a fire-Let me start by saying I have never actually experienced this.  We'll call it a reading fantasy of mine.  Round about the end of January, when the holidays are over and winter feels long and the school year is at its most tedious, I often think longingly of holing up in a small cabin alone, with a fire, a stack of books, plenty of coffee, and no cell phone or computer.  So if anyone has a spare cabin I can borrow in late January, let me know!
• On an airplane-While reading on a plane may seem more like a survival skill rather than a preferred activity, I look forward to plane trips because I know that there will be a period of at least a couple when I will have no responsibility except to sit in my seat and let the pilots and flight attendants do their job.  Being held hostage to the rhythm of the flight absolves me from the occasional guilt of reading instead of cleaning/homework/lesson planning.