Passion

It's twelve o’ clock in the morning and you’re hunched under your covers as a deafening storm rages outside. You’re clenching the flashlight so tightly that your knuckles are paling to the point of ghostliness. You’re holding your breath as the heroic wizard utters the deadly final curse and permanently vanquishes the ruthless sorcerer forever. The wizards have been liberated after thirteen long years! You exhale quickly, relieved, knowing this was coming, but enjoying the effect all the same. Your fingers unclench and your face is red with happiness and a strange emotion you can’t quite place. You turn the lights off and lie awake, reflecting the ending of the book by comparing, contrasting, and experimenting with various endings. I label this the “Reading Effect.” Only a book can make you feel this extraordinary rush, and this is why the pleasure of reading is my passion.

Each and every book is a magnum opus. A thoroughly different world spills out of the pages and snatches you away from reality into a breathtakingly brilliant dream world of pages, crammed with words. These words are dazzlingly vivid pictures in a clever disguise. The words on the folios of a book are its most valuable asset. I admire the way books can kidnap you and thrust you into their deepest depths, where they mesmerize you to the point of you being oblivious to your surroundings. A scorching fire could be blazing around you, so close that the flames could lick you, and you would still be curled up on that armchair, immersed in whatever book you are reading. I love the fragrance of books when I walk in to Barnes & Noble, the scent of new paper and ink. Adrenaline rushes through me as I roam aisle after aisle, finding new titles, scanning blurbs, and flipping through chapters. The pleasure of reading in my mind’s eye is a valuable treasure and should be worked to the fullest.

Every book has its own glimmer, very much like a diamond. Books are the path to knowledge, the road to enlightenment, and the trail to a better life. Read and your world will brighten a few shades. They have a certain je ne sais quoi that movies and music lack. There are people who say they hate reading, and that is pitiful, because those people are missing out on a great element of life. I hope to apply everything I’ve learned from reading — fiction and non-fiction — to my day-to-day life and live a brighter future. Reading is magic. One minute, you’re holding a collection of paper and the next minute, you’re stranded on a deserted island. Alice Hoffman once wrote, “Books may be our only magic.” They are. If there aren’t real spells and potions, at least you can enjoy them in a book. The contentment I receive from reading is like riches beyond imagination.

It is a passion I have possessed for a long time. I am quite sure I will never lose it.