All that reading means to me is hard to quantify.
Some of my favorite, earliest memories came from books. My parents and grandparents reading to me. Reading Rainbow. Finding my favorite corner of the library with the super soft rug to lay on and read. The smell of a musty old book and the creases of its pages.
I remember Bilbo getting caught in the exit of a goblin cave high in the Misty Mountains, scrambling and scrabbling to get through and escape to carry on a quest he was no longer a reluctant participant in. I remember how uplifting it was to see that no matter how scared you were or how much everyone else looked down on you, you could do amazing things if only you gave it everything you had, and eventually someone would see that you were awesome for it.
I remember Sam Gribley shivering, despairing, on the verge of giving up on the very first night of his adventure into the wild. I remember how sad I was, knowing that it was just how I'd feared it...if I ran away to the wild, it would all end in tears. Then Sam picked himself up and pushed on, and used his own wits to achieve his dreams, and he found an amazing friend who wasn't even human. I've been trying to run away to the wild in degrees ever since...someday I'll get all the way there.
I remember being so scared for Ferdinand the bull...he was so happy, and he was surely going to die...but then he was back, rolling in his meadow and sitting by his cork tree, and everything was right with the world again.
I could list a dozen things I remember from my younger years, reading. And as I've gotten older, some of the most incredible highs I've ever experienced came from books. From immersing myself in worlds more grand than my own, having my eyes opened to things I'd never before imagined.
A good book is a cape you can wrap around yourself and it will make you invincible to all the other problems in the world while you're wearing it. A good book is more comfy than your favorite chair, makes you as happy as any friend could, a good book is like a hug for your mind and heart. I don't give two shits if loving books and reading the way I do is dorky or stupid, because as much as anything else in this world, and more than most things, like family or sunshine on summer days or good bud or wonderful pets or trees and mountains and the ever-changing wind, a good book is a friend. A friend that is always there when you need them, and will never leave you, and gives you a little something more every time you come back to see it again. I don't know what kind of person I'd be without reading, or what kind of world we would live in if there were no books.
But thank fuck I don't have to worry about that, because there are great minds and passionate hearts out there who write wonderful things and readers like you folks in this thread who get the things I get about reading, and I love that together we enrich each other now and always. Reading is fuckin cool and I'm super happy to read a bunch of the responses in this thread. Cheers to you good peoples
