Cover to Cover

One of my favorite quotes is by George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones). He says, "I have lived a thousand lives and I've loved a thousand loves. I've walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read." Reading transports people to other worlds. It can change your moods, change your emotions, and sometimes it can even change your life!

I can't remember a time when I didn't read. It has been a part of me forever, it seems. I say a part of me because there is something about reading that sticks with you. The smell of the book. The personality of a specific character. The longing to be able to read a book again as if it was the first time. That feeling of nostalgia reading a beloved book for the 10th or even 50th time. Reading isn't something you do. It becomes part of who you are.

My grandmother used to take my mama to the public library when she was little, and when I was born they continued that tradition with me. I can remember loading up every two weeks during the summer with my mama to go to my grandmother's house so we could go to the library together. I read every Goosebumps book in one summer, and I used to check out so many books the librarian had to allow me to put extra books on my mama's card once she verified I was actually reading them all.

Bonding Experience

Reading is more than just scanning words on the page. It can be used as a learning tool. It can also be used to pass the time, but my favorite use of reading is the bond you get from doing it together. Think about book clubs. Potential strangers, or sometimes groups of friends, join together to discuss their unique perspectives of the same book. The good thing about reading together is that you bring your own insight about the book and that's the point. It eliminates hate among those with differing opinions because the whole point of discussing a book is to see a side of it you haven't seen yet. I can read the exact same passage as fifty other people, but none of our perspectives will be exactly the same.

This overflows into the bond of parent and child, too. Reading to yourself is satisfying. Reading to your children, nieces, nephews, and/or students is so much more. Seeing their little faces light up when they hear something they like. Hearing the questions they come up with after you read something is astonishing. You would be surprised by how much they pick up and how much they remember if they really like a book. This is why I hope that my kids love reading as much as I did when I was little.

Nothing Compares

While reading and living the lives with and of the characters in a book is not as satisfying as real life, nothing else quite compares to the feeling of befriending a book character, hating another, and feeling the soul-crushing despair when the last words of a favorite novel are read and the book closes on the life you wish you could hold onto for a little while longer.

You learn to love, live, feel, think, and die differently when reading. Reading breeds knowledge, empathy, love, and even sadness. Starting a new books is so exciting. Holding the little rectangle and roaming the cover wondering what one will find when the cover finally falls open to reveal a new world. From starting a new adventure to that adventure coming to an end and reluctantly closing the back cover. Running your fingers over the synopsis wondering how a small tome can hold the secrets of a whole new universe. It's impossible to beat the feeling of knowing secrets others done, "because I read."