The Life of Me

Wow! I apologize from the very deep depths of my soul! It's been almost 3 months! I've been busy and forgetful of the fact that I have a blog... We'll try not to go 3 months without a post anymore, shall we?

I do believe that the #1 thing on the list of Things I Don't Understand is People Who Dislike Reading. Now, I do agree with them if they dislike reading those long, boring, school-assigned books, or poorly written books. But just reading in general? What the heck is not to like? Reading lets you live in another world, be another person, meet dozens of new people, experience an infinity of new things. Not to mention the smell of a book... *sigh* That's one of my favorite smells in the world, after baking bread and freshly mowed grass (that's Hermione Granger's favorite smell--but you wouldn't know that unless you'd read Harry Potter or watched the movie... But watching the movie before reading the book ought to be a crime.)

Here's a list of reasons why one should read:

1. Percy Jackson and the Olympians

2. The Fault in Our Stars

3. Paper Towns

4. Harry Potter

5. Heroes of Olympus

6. Mara Dyer Trilogy

7. The Host

8. The Outsiders

9. The Hunger Games

10. Legend

11. To Kill a Mockingbird

*Please note: This list is in no particular order. It's not like I'm saying TFIOS is better than Mara Dyer Trilogy (though I think it is silghtly better...)

*Please also note: Twilight is not in this list. (Because, let's face it, Twilight is nowhere near as good as these books.) (Sorry, Twilight fans.)

I could go on and on and on and on. There are so many amazing books. Just think--if I hadn't read Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus, I never would have met Percy Jackson or Annabeth Chase or Grover or Tyson or Leo Valdes. And DON'T YOU DARE suggest that I just watch the movie to meet them. I saw the movies. And I wanted to claw my eyeballs out and vomit up all of my organs onto whoever made those freaking movies. Did they even read the synopsis of the books??? They didn't even get the right lightning thief, and THAT'S THE TITLE OF THE DAM MOVIE! (That was a Percy Jackson pun. If you didn't get it, you need to read those books.)

If I hadn't read The Fault in Our Stars, I wouldn't smile every time I heard the word "okay" or cry every time I--nope. I won't spoil it. You have to read that book. (It's not a nerdy astronomy book... I thought it would be... You know, 'cause "stars") If I hadn't read The Outsiders, I wouldn't know that "stay gold, Ponyboy" was the saddest line ever because of the circumstances under which they are said. If I hadn't read The Hunger Games, I wouldn't have hated Gale as much as I do--and it's a good thing that I hate Gale, 'cause he sucks--and I wouldn't have enjoyed the last 2 movies so much, because they completely cleared up the books, 'cause Katniss was a little bananas in the last book, so it was a bit confusing...

I suppose, though, that the reason some people don't find pleasure in reading is because some people read lightly. I read deeply. I let myself be sucked into the book, so that, when I stop reading, I have to take a minute to collect myself, and remember that I'm not a witch at Hogwards, I'm not a tribute in the Hunger Games, I'm not inhabited by a soul, I am just me. I forget that my boyfriend isn't dead (Ha--I don't even have a boyfriend) ('cause fictional men have given me unrealistic standards for boys). I forget that I'm not a fugitive.

Letting a book pull you in and engulf you in itself, is sometimes painful, I'll admit. When the character you've been falling in love with slowly but surely all through the book dies, it hurts, especially when the author just gets it, and they write how the characters left behind feel. (*cough* *cough* John Green *cough*) It just... It's like a slap in the face, a knife to the heart. And it hurts like hell. And I cry a lot. But I think that book-crying is great. It means that the book affected me. It means the author is a freakishly talented writer. It means that I will remember that story. It'll stick with me forever, and I can recommend it to my kids.

That's what I'm really excited for. When I have kids, and when they're old enough to enjoy reading, I can't wait to give them beat-up old copies of my current favorite books. I hope the covers are falling off, the spine is cracked to the extent that you can hardly read the title, the pages are all tearstained and dog-eared (I believe in dog-earing pages--I want my books to look read), with my very favorite quotes underlined and circled.

So... Read. Read and read and read. Reading changes you, in amazing ways.

"Books are the quietest, most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." -Charles William Eliot

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." -George R R Martin

-Sue Donimm