Just got back from Minicon 51, an annual science fiction and fantasy convention held in Bloomington MN.  It was great being surrounded by people who love to read and write and draw and make music–and talk about it.  Usually when I’m out and about I do a lot of people watching, but at Minicon and other such gatherings I enjoy book watching.  I check out what people are reading when they have a few minutes before a panel starts, and what they carry around, and what titles they look at in the hucksters’ room.  People are enthusiastic about what they read and will gladly give a stranger (me) a review of their current–and past–reads.  Years, even decades, after devouring a book a person can describe it in detail.  We breathe in the written word like air and it becomes part of us.  We inhale the stories and make them our own.