Reading

On formspring I was recently asked a question that caught my attention. The question/comment was, “Why do you like to read so much. It’s so boring. I don’t see the appeal.” While answering back, I found it challenging to keep my answer under 2 paragraphs. After giving my backspace a workout, I still had more to say. Finally, I decided I would just rewrite my response on a blog post:

A few years ago, I would have agreed that reading is boring and pointless. I have dyslexia and a communication disorder which, combined, gave me an excellent reason to have an aversion to reading.

In eighth grade, my best friend (of past, present, and hopefully future) pushed her favorite books on me. All my life I listened to adults telling me to read. “It’s good for you….. You’d love it if you found the right book…. You’re just not giving it a chance….” Eventually I stopped listening to adults on that subject matter, but my best friend was the first kid my age to suggest it. I figured there must be something to it if everyone was so insistent on me reading. Those three books she gave me are still the best books I’ve ever read. That was it for me: I was hooked. It turns out: all the adults were right. You just have to find the right genre. Trust me; if I could like reading, you could too.

Anyway, after I got into it, I realized something: when you read a book, you can be completely transported out of your own life and into the book. You can forget about all your troubles and stress, even for just a moment. Everybody has an outlet like that.

Some people like beat of their music, others like the soothing hum of the ocean, and some, like me, love to get lost in a book. Music can block out the world and take the listener on a journey through the melody. The oceans sounds are always calming to the mind. A book can take me away from the present situation and put me into a story where everything is different. That’s why I read.