“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
Magic unfolds in every page and it slowly engulfs you into a world where your wildest dreams come true. Go ahead; you can be a wizard, a detective, a dancer, a vampire, an angel, a demon. You can be just about anybody or anything under the sun. Every book introduces to a new world which you wouldn’t even have imagined. It lets you be a part of its adventures. You discover new places both the ones that truly exist and the ones that are somebody’s figment of imagination.
As a child I started reading Amar Chitra Katha’s mythological comics and I became truly engrossed in their colourful and loud pictures wrapped around wonderful tales. Amar Chitra Katha comics were my fairytales and whenever I find a copy in a bookstore or a library, I make sure I read it. Then I read Panchatantra tales over and over again. After which I read many stories from ‘One Thousand and One Arabian Nights’ and ‘Grimm brother’s fairytales’. As I grew up, I solved the mysteries with ‘Famous Five’ and ‘The Secret Seven’. Many of my friends used to read similar books as I, so we used to exchange after reading our books.
Books have helped me out a lot. When I moved to Trivandrum, after spending two great years in Pathankot (Punjab) and seven in Bangalore (Karnataka), I felt lonely and lost. I had communication trouble with the people around me, as they weren’t comfortable speaking in English or Hindi and I couldn’t understand Malayalam. I was uncomfortable in school and always felt like an outcast and on top of that there was the pressure of 12th standard. ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ by Stephen Chbosky, ‘Looking for Alaska’ and ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ by John Green and ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger were some of the books that provided me with emotional support and made me mentally strong during those tumultuous times.
Everybody has always been lectured on the benefits of reading books, how it improves our vocabulary, how it educates us, how it makes us aware and cultured. But I feel books do much more than that. They make a spiritual connection with our soul. A good book enlightens and enriches us. Sometimes it manages to change our general perspective altogether. A novel is more than just a story or the characters involved. It becomes a part of your thought process and you seek to relate it to your day-to-day life. I often wonder why my friends complain about reading. Do they not derive the same joy as I do when I read? Is it because they didn’t read much during their childhood? Or is it an inborn thing like some people can paint and some can’t similarly some people enjoy reading and some don’t.
A voracious reader will read just about anything, from novels and magazines to the stickers on food jars and billboards on the streets. Reading is a fun sort of meditation that calms your head and replenishes your mind. So, if that novel or that piece of article remotely interests you, go ahead and read it.
greymatter21 
I like the how you relate to books. Makes me want to read tooo 😀
Then read! who’s stopping you 😛