About the contributor:  I am very passionate about reading and writing. For me technology and gadgets are simply sexy and irresistible. I like to relax with a cup of hot chocolate reading a great book or watching movies. A certified homebody when the moment calls for it but at the same time I love to get out and explore from time to time. And not to miss it out I’m genuinely fun person and very friendly. I can be contacted via my blog – Thewhitescape.wordpress.com or on twitter @romspeaks. I would like to have your comments and feedback on this post.

Reading is Magical

I remember very well I was a child of 2 years when my relation with books started and I must say it is still going on strong. My mother introduced me to books. She has been my first teacher, who taught me colours, numbers and names before I started schooling. She still eggs on me to read more. The first book I remember reading on my own was about time telling. To this day I still thank my mother for instilling this practice in me and she also pushed me towards making writing my line of work. I’m more into reading than the TV shows.

I love reading books, for me it magical, pleasurable and soothing. Whenever I

sit with a book to read, I get transported to a new world for hours which evokes different feelings of sadness, joy, anger and thrill. Reading is a little so miraculous on a wealth of experience that can be passed on into my mind, just with the written words and sentences.  The total fascination of a good story is a joy I could never give up, and it’s something that has really defined who I am.

There are 2 sides of me when I read.

1. The personal experience of reading a book as an introverted attempt.
2. Images created in my mind

I read. It’s just me and my book.  There is some great reassurance to me that

I can open a book and keep myself unavailable without having to rely on anyone else, or cause inconvenience to anyone.  Maybe that makes me sound very anti-social of but I somehow just like being able to dwell in myself.

The whole new world and the characters of the book(s) I read are sifted by my observation of it, and it’s very own.  Much more than TV because I contribute to the imagination of the book’s setting and characters with what the author has provided in those couple of pages.  And it makes me feel very bright and exceptionally appealing.

During my school times I remember very well, for the duration of lunch hours or free time, I had the very antisocial habit of reading while my others friends were busy gossiping amongst themselves and in my memory, I read a lot of Shakespeare, Milton and Keats.

Books today are becoming extinct. Every piece of content is delivered in sound bites to grab everyone’s eye balls. The world is now fast-paced digital; everyone seems to be in hurry with no time to read a whole book. This is why bookstores are going off business. I feel heartbroken whenever I read about a bookstore’s closure. I totally love all the advances in technology – I have an Ipad with kindle and an android phone with Google Books App installed but I still love real books.

At the end of some busy days, the few minutes I spend reading every night before I sleep, helps me to get a good sleep. It makes me happy and recharges me for an energetic morning the next day.

Books have always been my continuous companions since childhood. I love

their smell, crispy pages, attractive covers, and the pretty bookmarks I use to mark my place and going by my great memory I have never ever folded corners of the pages. I love going through my books collection once a day.

Wherever I go, even if I’m travelling, I make sure that I have a book tucked away; – though as mentioned, I own an Ipad now, the feel of a physical book can never go away from me. I have a habit of noticing people and their behaviour in public, I’m forever trying to locate if I can find someone reading or having a book, but dejectedly, I see lesser people these days with books or interested in reading.

And with the bookstores going off from the business, people just dig their heads deeper and deeper in their mobile phones updating Facebook statuses, playing games, writing ridiculous tweets which longs me to flee to a world where people decide to meet in bookstores and fall in love after striking up a conversation over a book or their favourite author and great cup of coffee.

Do you enjoy reading books? What kind of books do you like to read and who’s your favourite author/authors? I would love to read about your choice.