November Days

Favorite Part 14

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       Do you remember the first time that you read your favorite book? And what you loved about it that let you know it was now your favorite? Did you even become aware that it was your favorite then or did it take a while?

Well, with me...my favorite book... if I had to pick just one book because I've read so many and loved so many of them...but if I could only pick one book then my favorite book is Ready Player One. I've read and re read that book more than any other book I've ever read. And believe me when I tell you that after all these years and years, I've read a lot of books.

The first time I read RP1, I checked it out from the library. I don't remember if I had read about it somewhere or if in looking for a book to read, it caught my eye.

I really loved the book that first read...but at the time I would no thave called it my favorite. I think my favorite would have been maybe Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? But I'm not sure...with that first read and diving into that intense gaming and pop culture world of Ernest Clines I could not forget about it. It was onl yabout a year later or so that I had been thinking about the book quite a bit and so I checked it out from the library and read it again. And wow I loved it even more with that read and that was when I realized it was my absolute favorite book if I could only pick one. It was not long after that second reading that I had to buy the book because I knew I would want to read it again and again and I wanted it there with me so that I could read it anytime that I so desired.

Actually, I've read that book so many times I have lost count, soon after I had my own copy maybe a year or less, I had to read it again. Something about the world that those amazing and vibrant characters lived in really spoke to me and I am not at all sure why. Even now after all this time.

It's an escapist world for sure...the whole culture of that world is trying to escape it's awful existence...but more then that the characters really spoke to me. How they grew during the course of the book. How they got closer and how they sacrificed so much fo each other and how much the two main characters grew to love each other...that ending...when they meet... well I cry every time I read that. Its just such a sweet and tender moment.

Sometime later on I needed to read the book again. I'd been thinking about it a lot and after some months of that, I had to read it. I had to get back into that world and spend time with those characters and this time when I read the book right when I turned that last page, I had to start reading the book again, right then...  it was like riding a rollercoaster and the ride ends and you rush to get back in line again so that you can experience that fun and excitement again right away.

I have never felt that way about a book before...that having just finished re reading it, I had to read it right away again and even though I knew all that was gonna happen, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it right away. Those characters really just speak to me on such an incredible level... they seem so real and alive to me.

A few years after that I read the book again...and yes, I still remember what was going to happen all the way through but this time I was reading again because the movie was finally coming out. Wow was I ever pumped and excited to see this movie! I'd read and followed it online as much as I could since it had been first announced three years ago, I think...not sure of the time frame but something like that.