Why Do You Love to Read?

Reading is the purest escape.

I’m about to go somewhere with nothing but the clothes on my back, a suitcase and two thick books. Novels. They’ll be my only companion, and I’ll read them some place sunny. I’ll leave behind my laptop. Turn off my phone. No emails. No Whatsapp messages. No social media. No television, movies, or news updates. Just… silence. The blissful silence of nothing but pages turning, the sun on my skin, my mind transported elsewhere as my body bronzes.

To begin with it's very relaxing. You can sit down at a quiet place and just forget about the world around you for a while. Sometimes when I feel like I have a million things to do I take a break, make a cup of tea and cuddle up in the corner of the sofa with a good book. After just a little while of reading I've got my strength up to take care of everything. It's also a great way to calm down before going to bed.

My first love was reading. First, being read to, by my father. Then, “reading” for myself, mostly just looking at illustrations. Eventually, words started making sense. Sentences forming. A great love was born.

People who love reading and are lifelong readers, usually love it for several of the same reasons.

Have you ever seen someone reading in a coffee shop or on a train and knew that you could be friends with that person because he/she was reading a book? Readers attract other readers and are the most interesting and thoughtful conversationalists! In addition, through blogging I have discovered the fabulous international book blogging community! Reading brings people together.

I love escaping reality and being engrossed in a completely different time, place, and/or world. And it’s been especially nice to escape the craziness of travel to places where it doesn’t exist..

Have a phone, tablet, computer or some other device near you? Just like that, you’ve got access to an abundance of reading material right at your fingertips. Whether you’re waiting in line at the grocery store check-out, at halftime for your daughter’s soccer game or just need a mental break from a tough assignment, you can access the latest news, an ebook, an article shared through social media and so much more.

As a reader, I always have book recommendations! I love being able to find just the right book for a gift or make a perfect recommendation!

What’s your number one reason why you love reading?

You Don't Remember Me, Do You?

I sit alone in the room that once held our laughter. These walls used to know your voice, your footsteps, your quiet humming in the morning. Now, only silence remains — thick and heavy, filled with memories I didn’t ask to keep. Time keeps moving forward, but a part of me is still stuck, frozen in the moments when you still loved me, when we hadn’t yet become strangers.

I trace the remnants of you: your favorite mug still on the shelf, the faint scent of your cologne clinging to the jacket you left behind, songs we used to sing together still echoing in the background. But they’re just shadows now. You’re not here. And I no longer know where to find you. I try to remember the last time you looked at me like I mattered. The way we used to hold hands, like nothing could pull us apart. But I realize now — it wasn’t the world that came between us. It was silence. Distance. All the words left unsaid.

Then last week, I saw you on the street. You were heading home from work. I wanted to call out your name but I couldn’t. My voice just stuck in my throat. I felt so small. All those memories just came flooding back. I didn’t mean to, but I ended up following you back here. I shouldn’t have done it, they told me to stop doing that.

I wonder if people are like echoes. When we’re gone, do we linger in the spaces we once occupied? Do our voices continue to be heard in the empty rooms of those we left behind? Or do we become forgotten at all, especially our voices?

I’ve always been a collector of moments. Little pieces of time that I hold onto, polishing them until they shine. I keep them in an invisible box, a treasure full of memories. And yet, there’s a part of me that feels the need to know that these moments were precious to someone else as well.

It’s a purely human one. We all want to matter, to leave a mark, no matter how small. To know that we were seen, heard, felt, and remembered.

I guess that’s all we really need in life, not simply to be remembered, but to have someone acknowledge that they remember you.

I figured life is too short to not tell someone the impact they had on you, regardless how big or small. So thank you, for reminding me that every person that I talk to, every person that I am near- I impact. And they, in turn, impact my life forever. This I believe.