*This is a Top 5 Tuesday post. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Bionic Book Worm on Wordpress.
1. "Stories are the most important things in the world."
This quote, attributed to Philip Pullman, pretty much epitomizes why I love to read so much and why it's been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. Stories. I love stories. I love getting to meet new people and visit new places. I love to discover epic battles, or star-crossed romances, or watch a killer get brought to justice. I just love stories. I love hearing them, telling them, getting caught up in them - a good story is like a spider's web, I once read. As you, like the spider, sit in the middle, even the smallest vibration can be felt. So the smallest word or character or scene - whatever! - can reverberate through the whole thing.
I spent four years in undergrad getting a degree in literature, chiefly because I love books so much. And I'm one of those people who likes to examine media I consume with a critical eye. Understanding something or analyzing something doesn't make me like it less, it makes me appreciate it more. It doesn't take any of the magic away from the story - it enhances it. It makes me see things with fresh eyes, appreciate connections I didn't before.
So yes, I love stories. To end with another quote, this one from Doctor Who, "We're all stories in the end."
2. Escapism
Books, so the saying goes, can take you anywhere. Just take a look! It's in a book! I mean, anything that lets me go twice as high as a butterfly is what I'm all about.
Okay, joking aside. I am a giant stress ball most of the time. I have very very bad anxiety and just going about my daily life is occasionally very difficult. When I need a break, or I need to forget all of that stress so I can cope, then I turn to a book. Even if it's just for a brief while, it takes me out of my life and lets me see the world - or multiple worlds! I get to go to fantastical places, meet amazing new people, see unbelievable things, all from the safety and comfort of my blanket nest on my couch. I don't have the means to travel right now, so this acts as a proxy for that, as well.
3. Words, Words, Words
Sometimes I like to read just for the sheer joy of seeing words strung together so beautifully. Like pearls on a string. Some of the best books in my opinion, the ones that linger, that leave of piece of the book with you long after you've read it, are the ones that are just exquisitely written.
I like to picture myself sitting on a beach, and a wave just crashes over me, flooding my senses, completely washing over me. I can't think of a less morbid verb than "drown" but yes, essentially I want my normal mundane senses to drown in the beautiful, beautiful language. I'm doing a terrible job describing how it makes me feel, but good writing is like fine silk and I just want to wrap myself up in it. Yes, as I said, I love nothing better than a good story. But sometimes I don't need a story to enjoy a book. Slap some symbolism on some pretty sentences and I'll have a field day with that, too. Sometimes I read for nothing more than the pleasure of becoming acquainted with the words.
4. Learning
One benefit from reading that I often forget to seek out intentionally is that there's a good chance you'll learn something from the book you're reading. This tends to often be the point when it comes to nonfiction, of course, but I don't read a great deal of nonfiction. (I do want to read more though.) But I don't want to sell fiction short, because it can teach us a lot, too. Sometimes just reading about someone who's different than you are can be a learning experience. Books set in different places, or about different cultures, or even set in a different career field can really teach us a lot. Not only do I encounter new information when I'm reading, but a lot of times reading will spark enough interest in a topic that I'm compelled to go out and do research on my own. (I love research, to be totally honest.)
5. Helps My Writing
I've always loved writing as my own way to tell stories, and I believe reading is a great way to get better. Next to, you know, actually writing it's probably the best way. Reading a lot is important for a writer in my opinion because it lets you see others at the top of their game and can be a great source of inspiration. And I don't just mean a style or a plot or something that you like - I mean that, at least for me, reading a great book energizes me and inspires me and makes me want to go write a great book. I want to make people feel the things all my favorite books make me feel.
That's not to say that you can't get great ideas from books, as well. Of course you want to be original in your work, but I think that taking inspiration from something can be a great start to that. Use a seed of an idea from a work you love and let it grow into something new that's all your own. I do that all the time. Something will spark interest, and I'll think about it, and write, and I'll play with the idea in my head. What if I changed this? What if I tweaked this a little? What if I incorporated this idea, too? And maybe the original idea will still be there, but it will have gone through so many iterations that the final product is often unrecognizable. Learning by doing is important, and actually writing as much as you can is what's going to build up your strengths, but taking a look at other writers, those who've been published, who have this finished product after who knows how long at work on it, that can be really instructive, as well. So I love to read not only for reading's sake on its own, but also because I feel like it makes me a stronger writer. I would love to actually publish a book one day, but that... is a very, very, very far off dream.
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What are your reasons for loving to read? I feel like mine are pretty generic, but they're also very sincere, so I've got that going for me. Reading is so important to me, and I just love books so much. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. There, sorry for my little outburst. I'm all done. Let me know what you think!
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