There is something about books . . .

There is something about books.

There is something about beautiful stories that stay with you days after you’ve read the last page and put the book down.

There is something in your soul that awakens when it recognizes you in a character, or in the author’s own struggles. There are stories that validate your own experience, and assure you you are not alone in this journey. Others have been here and they made it through.

There are pages and chapters that seize you because they resonate with your soul. There are books that give you answers, or give you questions to ask yourself.

They make you think . . . and think hard. They open your imagination to possibilities. They open your heart to other people’s realities. Some books will change you, or perhaps uncover something that has been in you all along.

To be honest, I don’t read books just for fun. I read them because I want to learn things I can use. I want books that deepen my self-knowledge and enrich my understanding and appreciation of life.

Every so often, I read fiction books. I let myself get lost in their world. I let myself read just for the pleasure of spending a day or days lost in another fictional character’s adventures in a make-believe world.

But when I put these books down, I realize that the emotions, the losses, the struggles of each character, these were real. These happen to us. We lose people we love. We fight for things we believe in. We protect what we believe is ours. We seek love, we seek fame, we seek power. Sometimes we win in life and at times, our losses overwhelm us. In this sense, every fictional work bears within it a piece of our own reality.

I hope you have found, and will continue to find, such books–books that change you, books that bring you joy. I hope you find books that, instead of taking you away from your real world, they help you dive deeper into it.