Why Do I Read?

I don't know about you but I always get asked things like: 

• How do you have time to read? 
• Isn't reading boring? 
• Why do you read so much? 

Other times I get told outright, "Reading is boring!"

To be honest, this cracks me up but my answer is "OK! That's fair, it's your opinion. Now listen to mine."

1. I make time for reading. It's like everything else in life; you don't have time unless you make time for something. 
2. Sure, if you think reading stories written by people of all ages around the world, in thousands of different languages, translated to your language is boring, than yes. But, if you're like me and you think that is fascinating, then join the bandwagon. We love reading.
3. Mostly because I'm bored! 

Ha I know, you thought books were boring.

There are so many reasons as to why I love to read and it's hard to write them all without ending up with a long three page essay/rant. Nevertheless, I will try.

TO ESCAPE: 

Life sucks, let's face it. There are fun times but they tend to be followed by long periods of boredom. That's fine, I am not complaining because those long periods of boredom are the reason why humans have created a beautiful thing called ENTERTAINMENT. I don't know about you but I love entertainment. Some music, movies or hey, BOOKS! They are all one and the same as they all serve the same purpose: to take you out of your reality for a little while, and let you live vicariously; to see things that you probably wouldn't see in your own life.

TO LEARN: 

I value education to the next century. It is something that I feel is really important. But, like most things, school and learning can get boring. Yes, 'boring'. (Please excuse my lack of adjectives but I think boring is going to be a key word in this post.) Books are educative; from them, one can learn better literature/English. You see phrases, words, sentence structures and you become familiar with them to the point that you start to understand things that you've never been taught directly. And that's not all! Authors are amazing people. They are creative and they are intelligent. I've learnt more about people, history, and science just by reading their stories and listening to their characters. What's better than learning without knowing you're learning?

TO TRAVEL: 

One of my life goals is to travel and being 17 and broke limits these dreams, but lucky for me I have books to distract me. When I read Anna and the French Kiss or Just One Day, I could almost see myself in Paris eating macarons waiting for Etienne or Willem to show up. Those books are great because they ignite the flame of curiosity inside me. I want to see Paris, I want to see all these places and they educate me on them, their history, etc. 

Then there are books that feature places that you can't stand up and go to with a measly plane ticket, like Hogwarts. Yes, I know there is a World of Harry Potter but the taste that I got from those books make me crave the whole thing; the real thing. This thirst can not be quenched by a quick trip to Florida. I want to go to Hogwarts, I want to get sorted by the sorting hat (GO SLYTHERIN!). Sadly, I will never get my wish but through the books I can live and relive the beautiful story and world numerous times. Darn, I want some butterbeer right now!

TO LIVE: 

Books are another life. They are removed from your immediate reality and therefore have the power to immerse you into another's reality, may it be fictional or not. I can't tell you how many time I wished I was a fly on someone's wall. We, human being, are fascinating. In books we get the chance to hop right out of our busy schedules or boring days and jump into someone else's. You can be 14, tall and red headed, worrying about your first day of high school or 65 and thinking about how best to throw your retirement party. The point is you get to live and taste things that you wouldn't otherwise. You get to enjoy things that you wouldn't otherwise and what is life if we're not enjoying it?

Behold, my essay on why I love books. It is now 12 am on a school night and I'm going to hop right back into my boring life but I'm a little bit happier because I got to rant about why I do what I do best. After all it is that thing what has lead me to be here on this beautiful website with my favourite co-blogger P.E., who is brilliant and all you wonderful readers! 

On that note, Why Do You Read?

-MARI