Hey, I’m Melisa Paige.

Welcome to my little blog about books and words.

I am a master at escaping reality by reading the hell out of a book. Or, really, anything with words written on it – cereal boxes, magazines, backs of shampoo bottles. I can’t pinpoint what book really started my reading obsession but my mom worked at Troll Book Fairs when I was in my formative years. I like to think some of the goodies she brought home got things started. That or her womb reading, she gets credit either way.

Also, she named me Melisa Paige, foreshadow can be a blessing and a curse. In this case, I won and she got major mom points.

My love of reading extends much further than just loving a great novel. I love words. Words can be so powerful, they can be spoken, written, formed with sign language and body language, the ways to communicate are endless. Such a simple thing that can have such great power. Not only do I love words but I love how they can create a story.

One of the first book related memories I can recall is the smell of Night Cars by Teddy Jam. That magical smell of lignin woodiness is something that I can still smell when I think about it. It is nothing short of a miracle that I still have the book. I think I’ve moved roughly 30 times in life and I have still managed to hang onto it. You bet your bottom that I still take a good sniff when my heart needs just a little extra TLC. 

Though Night Cars is the first book I can remember having a physical connection with, my love of books runs deep and wide. I read almost anything I could get my hands on. The works that resonated the most when I was young were the likes of Perloo the Bold, Petey, Ender’s Game, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and The Black Pearl. As an adult I tend to find the most comfort in long slow burn romances and thrillers.

I think my taste really started developing in middle school when I gained unfettered access to a library. The library I am talking about is linked, libraries are amazing and under utilized. At the time we lived in an idyllic Chicago suburb  (shout out to good old Downers Grove). It was the kind of town you could allow your kids to run around freely in without worry. My best friend Anna and I were book sisters who spent countless sleepovers reading books we’d checked out. We’d spend hours perusing the library, grab a slice of pizza and ride our bikes back to her house and bury ourselves in the magic on the pages till we fell asleep.

Right around my days of library discovery, I started to notice the shelves of hardcover books that my Grandma used to read. She would subsequently then use as decoration in the bathroom. I know many people may make an internal groaning noise. Who still knows and can picture a Readers Digest hardcover? Those Readers Digests were a window to an expanse of literary awakening for me. Filled with pages of dramatics and mystery, I was in heaven every time we visited. 

Flash forward about 20 years and I have three little minions (who are awesome) and a husband who is my total opposite. We own a busy small business and I talk to people all day long. By closing time I am craving some peace and solace. If you have children/pets/anyone dependent on you other than yourself, you know that after you day job ends, your other home job begins.

However, that magical time after my littles are down and I am finally done making decisions and being responsible for other people….in those sweet, peaceful hours I can be found in a book. I will wholeheartedly sacrifice one of my favorite things, sleep, in order to read one more chapter. Anyone else have to stop reading when the hour changes? I must read until exactly 1AM, if it hits 1:12AM, I will continue to read until 2AM. Just me? Lovely.

I soak up books like a sponge, read way more than I responsibly should and I love every minute of it. I think part of my need to read is me chasing that feeling I get when I get to the last word of a book that just hits all the right notes. Sometimes they leave me in a state of incredible vulnerability, sometimes I am just oozing love and sometimes they are incredibly heavy. I chase those big emotions and I live on their fumes for days. It is like the best kind of hangover. I wake up a little foggy and still resonating in the emotions of the book I finished. If the book is a great book sometimes I will drive right back into a reread, I love those times.

All of that is what has led me here. I needed an outlet. I wanted to harness my bibliophilia into something useful. My desire is that like minded individuals decide they find my reviews useful and interesting and that if you are someone who chases that good kind of hangover you stick around. 

PS. After I wrote this post I had the insatiable need to go smell Night Cars, shocking, I know. Check out my blog post on the science behind a book’s smell here! Would you believe that the inside cover color is my favorite color in the world? I feel like I could infer some kind of psychological connection there but I think I will leave well enough alone.