On the love of books

Sometimes I wonder why we love books. If you look at it rationally, you are staring at shredded trees that were made into paper and letters that were printed onto them in a specific order, which we call words. You do this for hours on end, see the words like a movie in your head, so that the words fade before your eyes and all you can see is this fantastical world that let you visit for a while. People who do not know the joys of reading would sometimes even call it hallucinating and to be honest, I smile every time I read that, because it's so absurd and true at the same time.

But those are the basics of reading a book. What we truly love about them is their content – with the exquisite and lovely smell as an added bonus – that intrigues us. We cry, we laugh, we get angry and fear for the lives of people who only exist on a sheet of paper, brought to life by the imagination of a creative person. I personally love the saying "We do not fall in love with the characters appearance, but with their mind and their heart.", simply because it is so very accurate and maybe it is because we can basically read the characters minds that we feel so connected to them that sometimes books are better friends than people in real life.

We cannot read people's minds, nor can we say with one hundred percent accuracy that we understood what they wanted to say or how they feel about us. For that we have to communicate with one another and sometimes being that honest can take a lot of courage. If we are perceived as anti-social because we like reading better than communicating with people, well, I don't really know what to say about that. Maybe we are taking the easy way out, but for some of us we never even got the chance to practice communicating and talking to people without getting hurt. For me at least, I think I unlearned it over the years. I like the honesty of books and sometimes miss that in people; therefore I am terrible at making small talk, which is not exactly ideal if you want to be more social. I want to have deep conversations and intriguing discussions about the world and if I am lucky to talk to a fellow book lover, then I am up to conversations about books for hours on end.

None the less, this is not about socialising, this is about books. Even if people say that we read too much and don't have enough life experience, because we don't get out much. I beg to differ. Books show you situations and characters that you may have never been confronted with in your life and as we witness the emotions and thoughts first-hand, I'd like to say that we are able to understand these things way better. With this I do not mean that we automatically know every person in the world, but rather that we tend to develop a sense for the emotions of others and are maybe more likely to consider the situation of our counterpart. I would call this one of the greatest assets of reading a novel. Experiencing worlds in a unique way. In our own way.

Not everyone will interpret the same novel, the same sentence or word in identical ways. We each put pieces of our own lives into it and the books hold a special place in our hearts for as many different reasons as there are readers. Books are our teachers, our friends and our companions in life. When we read a book for a second or third time, each time we find passages that we hadn't noticed before or we can connect to a sentence in a different or new way, because we have changed and are now able to understand things differently. A book has a new massage for us every time we read it.

Sometimes I like to compare books to humans. There are novels, short stories, non-fictional books, philosophical books and so many more. There are stories told a million times, but each time in their own, unique way.

Books come in different sizes: hardcover, paperbacks and digital, big, small, heavy or thin; they each have unique covers in different colours and languages. But each book is loved. If not by their author or the people who helped to publish it, then by the readers, who are grateful to have such a wonderful book in their lives. Everyone is loved, even when we sometimes don't know it, people love us silently from the side lines. Sometimes they might even say "The moon is beautiful", because they are too afraid to say the three words out loud.

I love books, because in them I find answers when I didn't know I had questions, I find comfort when I am sad and happiness, joy and a friend for when I'm lonely. They are my companion, my mentor and my anker in a storm. They inspire me and make me a better person.

Author's note:

Hi, this is some sort of poetry I guess and my first time writing something like this. I was inspired to write this as an interior monologue of Kang Dan-I's love for books after watching the series 'romance is a bonus book'. I would really appreciate it, if you could leave a comment and tell me what you think about it. Thank you for reading! <3