The Beauty of Literature

         Have you ever felt the desire, the need to just get away? The feeling that you need to escape for a while, go far away, be somewhere else for just a while? The desire to meet new people and experience something completely new? Sometime we need that place where our minds can escape to just for a while to calm down before returning to reality. The only possible way that I can think to fill this void is to sit and read a good books. Escape is never farther than the nearest book. One of my favorite feelings in the world is curling up in bed, under a big comfy blanket, and letting myself get lost in a good book. Unfortunately during school, I can never find time to sit and actually read a book just for pleasure, so I resort to any break from school to read, which is exactly what I have done this Christmas Break. I think I am on book six maybe of this break... One of my favorite things about reading a really good book is that my mind can't help but get lost in it. When you get lost in a book, you become part of the story which is magical in a way. Stephen King once said that "books are a uniquely portable magic." I can't think a a better way to put it. It truly is magic how for a period in time you can go back into the past, be part of the french revolution, travel into the future, become a part of a traveling circus, or live in the jungle. "Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's sole." (Joyce Carol Oates). You can do anything that you ever dreamed of through reading a book. Reading is dreaming with your eyes open.

         There are so many reasons for why I read, but after thinking over this I feel like most of the time I either read to escape from this world for a bit or because I feel alone and want the good company of a book. I don't think that I ever feel alone while reading. When reading, all the character of the book become your friends, your acquaintances. No matter what book you may be reading, there is always something that you can relate to. We are always drawn to something or someone in the book, and that is what makes us feel like we are not alone. It is like what Scott Fitzgerald said about the beauty of literature. While reading we discover that our longings and desires are universal, and that we are not lonely and isolates. On the contrary, we belong. 

          Even when we finish a book, it is still a part of us. In some way or another it has affected us, become a part of our life. Books are both powerful and dangerous. "The best ones should be labeled 'This could change your life.'" (Helen Exley).

        I will admit that the majority of my Christmas Break, when not hanging out with friends and family, has been spent sitting in a green chair in the living rooms under a big fluffy comforter, with the dogs at my feet, reading. I would not have had it any other way either. In the past few weeks I have gone back to high school and learned about life and growing up while reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I traveled to Paris in the early 1900s and kept company with Ernest Hemingway and other great writers in The Paris Wife. I spent nights at the circus, where dueling magicians fell in love during The Night Circus. And at the moment, I have traveled back to the early 1800s to England  in what has been considered by some to be one of the greatest love stories of all time, Pride and Prejudice. Talk about a way to spend Christmas Break :) And when I am done with this book, I seem to always have a list of books to read waiting for me. I am always open for suggestions on new books though, so if you have any let me know. I want to leave you with a list of some one my favorite books so if you need anything good to read, here you go.

Books worth reading (in no particular order): 
1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
3. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
4. Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge
5. Wild at Heart by John Eldredge
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
8. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
9. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
10. To My Daughter in France by Barbara and Stephanie Keating
11. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
12. Story of a Soul by St. Thérèse of Lisieux
13. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
14. Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza
15. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
16. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
17. Why We Need Love edited by Simon Van Booy