Why I Read…

1. It’s relaxing

Sometimes books can calm me down. It’s nice to read something where I feel like I’m there, ya know? I’m not working my nine to five job, instead I’m fighting imagery people with my imagery best friends and we’re solving real life….

Umm, wait I mean fictional problems.

Books can sometimes take me places, like instead of being in boring old America I’m in Paris or Nazi, wait, just kidding that one wasn’t that relaxing.

But my downright favorite book absolutely has to be The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life. And now I’m 100% convinced that some of us came from dolphins. This book has now put me on such a spiritual..

Okay I literally cannot write that anymore because now it’s just getting ridiculous. On a serious note, I do think that author is probably super smart and has written a lot of cool stuff in that book, but human dolphins? Sorry dude, I need a little more evidence.

2. Empathy

 

Some books are really good at teaching empathy -others are quite the opposite. Especially if its meant to fuel propaganda… but thats probably a discussion for another day.

I do think Holocaust books, books about racial inequality. Pretty much any book that teaches us about how separating ourselves from others is bad will teach how to have empathy for other people.

3. Imagination

Sometimes after I read a book, it gives me a creative vibe. Sometimes I’ll even paint after I read and I end up really liking what I made. It helps me think of things I won’t normally think of. Reading helps me to think of new ideas.

4. It’s a movie in your mind

 

I’ve always liked the book better than the movie, most authors don’t control the exact image you see in your head. If the author says someone looks pretty than you visualizes what you think is pretty, there is no image of picture there to control what the character’s supposed to look like.

To be honest, I’ve found it easier to remember books better than movies. Maybe it’s due to using my own ideas to ‘create’ them in a way. As opposed to other people shoving exactly what they want their ideas to look like in my face.

5. Better discussions

 

I think reading books can help to fuel some really good discussions. It helps people think even deeper about life, we start asking some pretty serious questions and figure out what we think works and what doesn’t work in the world. Book discussions can sometimes help us solve real life problems.

I’ve found book discussion to be a lot more meaningful as opposed to the majority of movies. Yes, some movies can be thought provoking. However, I’ve found myself asking more questions after reading a book rather than watching a movie.

6. Last, but not least.. THE SMELL

 

The smell of a book, new or old, is unique, I think it is one of the most wonderful smells in the world. If frebreze made a scent that smelled like books then I would certainly try it. I remember on of my first books I read was The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. And I read the one my dad had had for years. It had a plain black cover, the pages were yellow from age and it had ink drawings of the story pop up every once in a while. It was a good read, and I loved the old book smell.