Why I Love Books (And You Should, Too!)

Why do I love books? What’s with my obsession? Why can’t I stop reading books?

I’ve never actually been asked that question, but it’s an important one for me to answer, and it’s an important question for others to hear the answer. Books are such a vital part in my life, and it’s time for me to share why.

Each book is a whole new world.

When I open the pages of a new book, I’m transported far beyond the walls of my Clayton, Missouri apartment. I’m thrown into a new world full of intrigue and unknown. And I love it. I can’t afford to travel as much as I like, and with books, the pain of remaining where I am is eased, albeit rather slightly. I read a book by Patrick Taylor and am brought into a small-town Irish setting. I read J.D. Robb’s In Death series, and I fast forward a handful of years and travel to New York. I read about a boy named Harry Potter, and I become part of a world that (unfortunately) doesn’t and can’t ever exist, a world of magic. Any time I crack open the spine of a brand-new book, I’m exhilarated to learn where I’ll be going next, all in the comfort of my own wing-back chair. 

Everyone has a story.

Each person has a story to tell, and each person deserves a chance to tell that story. With authors, their books are their stories. I have a fascination with other people’s stories. I love people watching, and when I watch people, I create stories for them. It’d be so much more fun to sit down and let them tell me their story, but I’m painfully shy and that would be challenging. We all come from somewhere. We’re all going somewhere. We are all trying to reach our dreams. We all have a story.

Books make us smart.

Even if you’re reading a silly little fiction book about a cowboy and a city girl, you’re getting smarter. You’re training your brain to put symbols together to create a movie inside your head. Isn’t that insane? Letters are nothing but random squiggles someone made up. Words are nothing but a smooshing together of those random squiggles. Books, therefore, are nothing but a compilation of random squiggles that we’ve made mean something. When we read, those squiggles become pictures in our heads. Also, authors like to use big words, so you’re learning big words along the way. You also gain other skills, like critical thinking (gathering themes and big picture ideas from novels), problem solving (predicting the ends of novels), and reading between the lines.

There are countless other reasons why everyone should always be reading all the time, but these are my top three reasons. Books are big. Books will (hopefully) always be big. Go out, buy a book, and read it. Then create a Goodreads profile and follow me so I can see what you’re reading.

 

Image taken from Yeadon Library.