In a quiet, mundane moment this past week, I fell in love with reading, again. You might find that statement strange coming from a writer, but it is true. I was reading before, of course I was reading…books, stories, newspapers, magazines, and it all filled me up as good content often does. But, what I’m referring to here is that falling into another world, peaceful and absolutely liberating feeling of holding a book and only finally looking up when the there are five pages left. I look at the time, and the day has disappeared, and I don’t feel bad about it because the book in my hand made it all worth it. In fact, I wanted to go back to the moment right before I cracked the spine and fall in again. I didn’t want to finish the last five pages because it meant that I would have to give up the moment, merge back to the present. Then I thought, all I need to do is find another book.
I had forgotten this feeling. Lost it between endless work-related meetings, obligations and commitments. It is hard to lose yourself in a book when clients are calling your phone, constantly seeking your attention, reports are waiting on the desk, and everyone has a problem waiting for you to solve. I love the challenge the day job provides, and at times I absolutely find solace in it, but it has also taken away from some simple things like reading.
Perhaps it was the book I was reading…I can’t quite express it. Whatever it was, I fell in love again with reading. The bug bit me so hard, I ran back to the bookstore and I now have a pile of books by my bedside table waiting for me. The excitement of it makes me high.
I’m currently deep in the grip of Maggie Steifvater’s The Raven Cycle, where kisses might mean the end.
Gansey, Blue, Ronan and Adam are an absolute delight.
Over at the Daily Post, I found this quote:
Writer Rebecca Solnit on stories:“Stories are compasses and architecture; we navigate by them, we build our sanctuaries and our prisons out of them, and to be without a story is to be lost in the vastness of a world that spreads in all directions like arctic tundra or sea ice.”
I feel as though it might describe a bit of me before this rediscovery of reading. While the writing part of my life is essential, absolutely needed that it can keep me up at night. But the reading part too, the reading is essential. Stories can truly liberate you in a way you can’t define.
Sui Writes 