My World of Books

Today marks the fourth day of Blogmas. Fifteen days of my thoughts, with some Christmas cheer sprinkled in.

First off, here is your disclaimer that I am not an avid reader who reads a book a week. Sometimes I start a book, get halfway through, and don't pick it up for months, or I sit down and finish a book in six hours. Then, when I'm taking classes and focused on schoolwork, I end up in a book slump because my brain can't handle any more words being fed through it.

Lately, the books I've been reading have been psychological thrillers. I especially recommend Lloyd Devereux Richards' books. They are incredibly hard to put down. I even got a signed edition of his newest book. I enjoy reading thrillers and murder mysteries because they keep me seeking out more, and they keep me twisting and turning in excitement. Sometimes I read books where the ending is predictable, and other times I read the ending, and it drops my jaw to the floor. I think to myself how obvious it was, but I hadn't even expected it the whole time. Those are the best ones. I love a good plot twist.

My most recent pickup is a contemporary romance novel, Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson. I will forever be a romance girl; they make me giggle and kick my feet in the air. It's the most amazing feeling in the world, and yes, these books raise my expectations immensely, but I'd rather have the bar be high than in hell.

You might be asking yourself, why do you read? I read to feel. This might not make sense, so I will explain. In the real world, I don't like to feel the feelings that are hard and don't make sense. I don't want to feel sad, numb, hurt, or any other feelings, so instead I bottle them up. If I acknowledge them, then I have to confront them and let them out. Whereas in my world of books, I get to feel these emotions through the front of other characters; I get to feel sad that the character's mom died, feel hurt when she gets stabbed in the back, or feel happy when the main characters finally admit they have feelings for one another. I get the chance to feel feelings that aren't mine. After I close the book, my feelings have been unsealed and let out, but I haven't had to confront what I'm feeling. The number of times I have fully sobbed while reading a book is countless. There is this one book that I read called The Wicked Ones by Robin Benway, and even when I think about the ending of the book, I begin tearing up. That's how connected I become to the characters' lives. To the point where they feel like real people, whom I know all about. It's almost like magic, and it's why I commend all of the authors that I read. They make me feel, and it means the world to me. I can't even imagine what I would be like without books; the amount of emotions that would've stayed unreleased would turn my soul sour. If anyone is looking for a hobby, reading is a great one, and there is a genre for everyone. Maybe you aren't into romcoms or thrillers, but to each their own. With that, I can gladly say that reading the words of another fictitious character's life has molded me into the shining jewel that I am.