I don’t read because I think it makes me sound cool.
I don’t read to learn new things.
I don’t read so I can say I’ve read it.
I don’t read because someone else tells me to.
I don’t read so I can seem smarter than everyone else.
I don’t read because the book has won awards or sold millions of copies.
I don’t read because whatever the book is about actually happened.
I don’t read to better understand complicated social issues.
I don’t read so I can run a book blog.
I don’t read so I can talk about books.
I don’t read so I can argue about whether the story was any good or not later.
I don’t.
I read because I need to.
I read because if I don’t I can’t stand hearing all the thoughts in my head screaming at me how starved they are for words.
I read because I’m lonely.
I read because I need to disappear. I need the world to disappear.
I read because the world is boring and I want to see something new.
I read because I want to see dragons.
I read because I need words.
Because I get book-hungry.
I don’t.
I devour books like a ravenous wolf.
I tear them apart and let them do the same to me.
I shout, I cry, I make strange faces that earn stares from the odd passerby.
I earn terrible library late fines.
I open the cover and climb inside so I can forget about the world.
I hike up a mountain of pages to find what book is waiting at the top, what forgotten secrets it holds.
I fall in love and let my heart be broken time after time.
I meet old friends and make new ones and throw others away because they betray my trust.
I climb mountains, feel the wind in my hair, race horses across green meadows where the shadows flicker from distant clouds,
I spend the night staring up at the stars peeking between the deep black sky with a red fire at my feet,
I feel the weight of a sword and the weight of a heavy book.
I dwell in a realm entirely my own, a bulwark of bookshelves the fortress walls, ignoring thrones of overstuffed chairs and sitting gemütlich on the floor.
I spend hour after hour alone. In a book. Sitting still.
Far away. In another world. I can’t say I ever really was alone.
One response to “Do and Don’t Read”
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