People sometimes ask me what it is that I love about books so much, and why I get so emotionally attached to the characters. It's because it gives me a chance to escape my life and pretend, even if only for a moment, that I'm only dreaming and someday I will wake up and the things that I have read about will be real. They sometimes ask if I have no friends, because someone who spends almost every waking moment reading must have no one to hang out with and therefore must have no life. It's not that I have no friends. I would say. Or that I have no life, it's that I choose to have many. Because every book that I read, I can always find a way to relate to the characters on an emotional level which I find creates a bond that will outlast time itself. Every day I can choose whether or not I want dragons to exist, or whether I want to be learning spells with Harry, Ron and Hermione at Hogwarts. Every day I find out something new about the characters that I didn't know the day before and every day I fall that little bit more in love with certain characters.
Books give people the chance to escape reality and create their own lives. And one of the best parts is that they will always be there for you, always welcoming and never judging.
This is my response when people ask me about books, and if I am asked to choose my favourite book I stare at them in confusion. I would then ask them why would I choose what book I love more? Because asking a reader what book they like the most is like asking someone who has many best friends who they like the most, it would be nearly impossible to choose. Because, although one might stand out in a certain way, every character in the books that you read become your family in a way that only you can understand.
And even though you have not met them in person, you have met them in a sense. You form an unbreakable connection with them that will only grow stronger every time you re-read the book. And it is an amazing feeling to be able to share a connection like that with someone, knowing that no matter what happens in life that they will always be there for you, that even though you may put the book down and grow up and go to university, you never really move on because you know the book will still be there when you get back.
This is what I love so much about books.
