ELEGANT TRASH

Why Do I Read?

Its the plot. Its not the literature or language or vocabulary that spouts wisdom with every word. Its not the clever tapestry of words created by masterminded artists of the alphabet. None of that.

Its the story. The twists and turns, the death and mystery. The shock and exhilaration, the excitement and wonder.

The mind boggling characters and the sheer entertainment of having lost yourselves in the labyrinth of the authors, when turning a page seems to take an eternity, and all patience seems to have deserted your body.

Its the uplifting feeling of having transcended into another dimension where the laws of physics seem to be a gallon of garbage, the escape from the real world of grime and sweat, to a perfect space where everything under the sun is seemingly in your imaginative control.

A world of heroes and evil, a world where the villain seems to be right, where society and its clinging roots do not penetrate your thoughts. A world that makes your feelings tie themselves into knots more entangled than your earphones, makes your mind work in ways that leave your mouth hanging open, and directs your thoughts to make you want to tear away your humanity and sell your soul to this unending pool of insanity where nothing else matters.

Normal physiological functions like sleep become a thing of the ordinary, and suddenly your life is intertwined in this mess of unexpressed emotions and every minute all you want to do is immerse yourself in the pages of that book, all you want to do is find out what happens next.

Its that moment when you turn the page and let out the breath you didn't realise you were holding or that instant when you catch yourself smiling at the letters.

But you couldn't care less, because that's how powerful a good plot is, it can make you lose your brain while using every last drop of your IQ to try and figure out the ending before you get to it.

Its when you shake your head at the geniusness of the sudden twist that you just didn't see coming, or find that you can relate more to these unreal beings more than to any human being ever.

I read for all of these things and more, while a movie can keep you engaged for a maximum of 3 hours, a good book series can keep you in the epitome of attention for months.

Reading is not a luxury or a hobby to me. Its a way of life, a drug, an addiction, an escape. Without it, I'd be as lost as my favorite character without his love interest.